Tron: Independence
by The Solar Surfer
Summary: Two criminals on the run from the police find a safe place to hide in the abandoned Flynn's Arcade. Down the rabbit hole they go, and find themselves in a shattered world suffering from a power vacuum. Programs have sided against one another and its down to two Users and a couple of new allies to bring back balance to the Grid. Post-Legacy, with most characters from that movie.
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Hey guys, this was just a plot bunny running around in my head. I had been writing it for a while and I've decided that its worth showing to you. I don't know if I'll continue, since I'm pretty busy at the moment, but tell me what you think!**

**Reviews and feedback are appreciated.**

**(P.S. The Title will probably change if I find a better one).**

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Chapter One

Down the Rabbit Hole

Maddie gasped as they bounced over a pothole, the wind stealing her breath away. The engine gunned beneath her as the accelerator was pushed forward and they darted across a busy intersection. They burned through two more red lights and barely avoided several car accidents before making it to the freeway.

Maddie tightened her grip around her sister's waist as their speed hiked up twenty miles over the speed limit – in which their small size proved an advantage, darting between slower cars before they could collide into them. Even if she could call out and tell her sister to slow down, Maddie knew Nikki wouldn't listen to her. The tremendous wind, roaring engine, and indignant car honking made it impossible for Maddie to think, so she just closed her eyes and tried to drown it out in her thoughts.

She had realized things had become decidedly bad when Nikki's boyfriend had revealed himself to be an undercover cop. Nikki did not take the news well.

The idea of being arrested terrified Maddie. She couldn't imagine anything worse than being separated from her sister, possibly for life. Maddie didn't know how long she could last on her own; Nikki was the one who stole the food, searched the hide outs, fended off the gangsters who tried to mess with them. She was the one who completed the jobs and earned the money, climbing the ranks of the lower echelons of the Los Angeles mafia. Maddie was the one who just hid in rafters and made sure their old radio still worked, waiting for Nikki to return.

They were little more than hired thieves for Nikki's employers, but that was enough for Jason to pull out his cop badge and inform just how much trouble they were in for.

He wanted informants. Nikki wanted revenge.

Maddie winced when she heard sirens in the distance, getting nearer by the second. Oh, good, he called the cavalry.

Nikki heard them too and turned off her lights. The sun had set at least twenty minutes ago, and they blended frighteningly well in the darkness. Maddie prayed that no other cars would run into them simply for the lack of awareness.

Maddie had watched, in stunned silence, as her sister had overturned the table and knocked Jason out of his chair. Nikki had whipped out her gun and pulled the trigger – missing Jason by inches. That had been a fault of her shaking body, due to rage, rather than a lack of aiming skills. Had Nikki been in a calm state of mind, Jason would surely be dead right now.

Maddie liked Jason – still did, even now. She didn't know why, since he had betrayed both of their trusts and lied to them about pretty much everything. But even if he didn't come from a poor family in Pennsylvania, even if he didn't make a living conning people out of their life savings, Maddie knew there was sincerity in his warm blue eyes.

He had seemed genuinely sorry that he had hurt Nikki's feelings, and didn't fire on them even after Nikki made an attempt at his life. When Nikki had proven herself unable to be reasoned with (it didn't take very long), Jason had turned to Maddie and pleaded with her instead. He had asked her to step away from this life. That further indoctrination into the mob will only get her hurt and killed. Jason had told her that she still had a chance at a normal life, college and a family. It wasn't over for her yet.

But Maddie couldn't answer him. All her life she had been the bargaining chip, not the one to be bargained with. No one paid her attention and that was fine by Maddie, because usually the attention they got was the bad kind.

She didn't know what to do in that new position. Nikki had looked at her, her face still in its grimace of fury, and Maddie could see in her eyes as well: pleading. _Don't turn back on me now. Don't betray me, too. Don't leave me to die alone. _

Maddie couldn't abandon her own sister, not after all those years they had been through. Nikki was her family, all the family she needed. As tempting as the idea of a normal life sounded, Maddie knew it wouldn't mean anything if Nikki wasn't there with her.

So she had shaken her head, backed away from Jason and his offered hand, and was gifted with one of Nikki's beaming, grateful smiles. That's how Maddie knew she had made the right choice.

And now they were on the run. Again.

Nikki jerked on the motorcycle handles and the wheels jumped off the freeway and up a ramp. Maddie looked up as red and blue lights continued below them, not seeing their escape.

They slowed down considerably as they cruised through a suburban neighborhood. There was no indication of how long it would take the police to find them again, so Maddie figured they'd need a hide-out sooner or later. None of these nice, normal houses looked like they were worth breaking into, though, even if they got lucky enough to find one with its family away on vacation.

Nikki didn't seem to think so either, so they continued through the streets until they found themselves among more shops and businesses. Again, not necessarily places one would choose to squat in, but that's when Nikki made an abrupt turn, hit the curb, and shut off the engine. Maddie was so startled that she was still attached to Nikki even though her sister had already gotten off the bike.

She shook her head and tumbled off, her legs trembling from the adrenalin. Maddie looked around – the place was unfamiliar, yet Nikki was walking up to the glass doors of a building like she owned the place. She certainly didn't look scared that they might be attacked by hostile gangbangers. How would she even know if the building was empty or not?

The building itself was pretty beat-up, she had to admit. There was graffiti on the brick walls that guarded the street corner the building rested on. The road split off in three directions but Maddie saw no sign of life in any of them. Above the double-archways were huge neon letters, turned off at the moment.

_FLYNN'S_

Maddie frowned. She had heard of this place, a sort of legend amongst LA inhabitants. This was arcade of the once great Kevin Flynn, who had disappeared a little over twenty years ago. Nikki had already picked the lock on the door, slipping inside without another word. Maddie followed her, wondering if she should be the one to say something first. Nikki hadn't spoken since they jumped on the motorcycle and escaped Jason as he was calling for back-up.

Maddie didn't really have an understanding of what breaking up a relationship felt like (life on the run didn't really give one such luxuries, and Nikki would never let Maddie get near another boy if she could help it), but she doubted that's what had Nikki down. Even Maddie felt the betrayal – a burning, aching sensation in her chest that she didn't have a balm for. It twisted her gut and made her feel like she was tipping over the edge of a precipice, like one more little push could send her off the deep end.

It wasn't necessarily hopelessness she felt, but rather a fear of uncertainty. Maddie didn't like suddenly wondering if there was no one she could trust anymore – not even Nikki, which even in her rational mind was crazy. If there was only one person in this world Maddie could rely on, it would be Nikki. Nikki would never turn her back on family, and Maddie was glad to know she herself hadn't, either.

At least she wasn't a traitor. Maddie couldn't imagine what Nikki might be feeling right now. In the back of her mind, she wondered how Jason was feeling, too.

Nikki had turned on the electricity inside the building. Speakers on the ceiling started playing 80's rock music and the aisles of arcade games revved to life with upbeat ditties. Everything was covered in translucent tarp and the floor was caked in dust. It scattered into the air with each step they took.

"I'm going to take a look around, search for provisions," Nikki said in a monotone, glancing at Maddie with a half-hearted smile. "Why don't you play some games? It'll keep you busy."

Maddie nodded, a little disappointed. She wanted to talk to Nikki, but her sister's dismissal meant that she didn't want to discuss feelings. And being told to go play games while Nikki upheld her older-sister responsibilities? It's like a baby-sitter putting a toddler in front of a TV to distract it while she did what she wanted. Maddie didn't want Nikki to think she was some sort of burden she needed to unload. Maddie knew she could be useful. Somehow.

Resigning herself to the arcade games, Maddie brainstormed how she could help her sister. She started off with what she was good at – the list wasn't very long or inspiring. Maddie could play a mean game of hide and seek; she spent most of her life hiding from dangers while Nikki took care of them. Nikki had taught her when they started out young. It was practically a habit of hers to look out for dark corners and niches to curl up in. She could see several already inside the room.

Besides that, Maddie didn't really know what she could do. She couldn't fight because Nikki never taught her how, on the basis that Maddie could very easily get hurt and Nikki couldn't handle anyone else's pain but her own. She had scant ability at cooking, but that was mostly just toast and Insta-Noodles, and this didn't look like a place that had either.

Maddie sighed, tapping the buttons with minimal effort at defeating the green aliens attacking her little spaceship. She hadn't made it past the first level before she exploded and met _Game Over_.

She fiddled with the machine, unscrewing the plastic covering where quarters were inserted, to get at the cash inside. At least she knew how to break into machines, whether for small denominations or junk food. That wasn't a skill Nikki taught her – Maddie had been doing it since high school.

Maybe that's why she got kicked out. Hm. She never much liked the classes anyway. Her educational experience hadn't been pleasant and Maddie was glad she'd never have to go back. Even if the warm bed or meal were rare occasions in her day-to-day life, Maddie enjoyed the adventures with her sister. Most of the time.

The rest of the time was scary. She tried not to dwell on those parts.

She gathered the quarters and stuffed them into her backpack. Someone hadn't been here in years and the coins had accumulated. She wondered why no one had decided to break in here before and tried to steal as much as they could. It was practically a gold mine in the arcade.

With enough quarters to play any game she wanted for an extended period of time, Maddie looked around; trying to decide what she wanted to try next. She heard a clatter and looked up – there was a walled loft with windows above her, and she could see Nikki rummaging inside. Maybe she found something they could use. Maddie turned back to the games and tried the next few that looked fun.

They weren't. Maybe Maddie wasn't the kind of girl who was into gaming. It wasn't like she had a lot of chances to find out. But she found her interest piqued by the game in the center of the room, having an entire wall for itself as though it commanded an audience to watch it play. The game even had its own neon sign declaring its magnitude: _TRON_. Hey, Maddie heard of that game. It, alongside Space Paranoids, was what got Kevin Flynn to his CEO status of ENCOM, some years before he vanished.

Maddie wondered vaguely what had happened to Flynn as she approached the game. Did he run off to some Caribbean island resort, spending the rest of his life in paradise? That was what Maddie would go if given the chance. Or was he kidnapped or offed by competition after taking the throne of the technologic empire that was ENCOM? That wouldn't surprise her either – the way the previous CEO left office, Maddie was sure there would be bad blood between Flynn and Dillinger.

She approached the game and pulled off the tarp. Most dust exploded into the air, making Maddie cough and gag until it dissipated. Taking a quarter out of her pocket, Maddie inserted it into the slot and waited for the game to kick in.

The game did not respond. The coin dropped into the change bin at the bottom of the machine and tumbled to the floor. Confused, Maddie picked it up and tried again, only to receive the same result. What was up? Why would Flynn's prized game be on the fritz? She thought he'd take better care of it, even if it's been abandoned for so long.

Didn't Kevin Flynn have a son? Maddie couldn't recall his name. She hadn't been watching the news lately – most of the houses they've squatted in had no electricity. If he did, Maddie wondered if he still cared about the arcade, the last of his father's legacy. Was he still pulling pranks on the company? Maddie wondered if the rumors of him having a new girlfriend were true or not, or why she even cared.

That's when Maddie noticed the marks on the ground, grooves curving like the hinges of a door wearing down the tiled floor. They disappeared underneath the machine.

Carefully, Maddie placed both hands on either side of the cabinet and heaved, expecting it to weigh a ton. She was startled when the arcade game moved easily underneath her touch, swinging wide and throwing her off balance. She tumbled to the ground and the game banged against the wall from her unneeded momentum. Behind it, the wall revealed a small door, just wide enough to hide behind the game and go unnoticed.

"Nikki!" Maddie called, getting to her feet and approaching the door carefully. What if there was something – something _bad_ behind it? She didn't want to go snooping around on her own in case she didn't like what she found. "Nik, come down here! I found something!"

There came the sound of footsteps thundering down stairs and Nikki appeared through the aisle of games, covered in dust and looking mildly alarmed. She had a crow bar in her hands, in case some ghoul jumped out and attacked. She dropped the improvised weapon when she realized it was only Maddie. "What is it?"

"I think it's a secret room or passageway." Maddie told her, pointing at the door. "Where do you think it leads?"

Nikki stared at it for a moment before a grin crawled across her face. Maddie could hardly sit still with excitement. She had managed to boost her sister's mood with the opportunity of finding valuable secrets within an old arcade. "Let's find out."

She examined the door, coming closer to pull on the large metal handle. It wouldn't budge. A line formed on Nikki's brow as she pulled harder, trying to move the door, but it didn't give way to her force. Maddie held up a timid hand, a little scared to interrupt her sister's frustrated efforts at opening door. "Maybe it goes the other way...?"

Nikki stopped and glared at Maddie before scowling and changing her stance to _push_ on the door instead. Turning her head so Maddie wouldn't see her flushing cheeks, Nikki said, "There are some stairs. You still have that flashlight?"

Maddie reached into her bag and took out the large industrial one they took from a plumber a couple weeks ago. Nikki gripped it in her hands, raising it over her head as she turned it on. The metal was heavy and would make an efficient weapon to bash on the head with in case something jumped out at them in the darkness.

The metal door shut behind them as Maddie backed her sister down the steep stairs. She heard a faint boom as the arcade game swung back into place in front of the secret door. Oh, good, so no one would know where they went in case someone came looking. At least that would keep the police off their tail.

The darkness and cobwebs threatened a sort of danger only Maddie's nightmares could conjure, so she tried to ease the tension by asking, "So, um, how are you doing?"

She couldn't keep her voice from trembling, so she hoped Nikki would throw her a bone and pick up her end of the conversation. Maddie didn't like the darkness – it was a childish fear, but a fear nonetheless. She couldn't go to sleep unless knowing there was a light on somewhere nearby. The flashlight was soothing, but there were still many dark corners and crevices that yielded secrets Maddie didn't want to learn.

"Fine," Nikki muttered, concentrating on the path ahead. The stairs made a 90 degree turn down and Maddie found herself panicking when Nikki disappeared around the corner. She picked up her pace before she could lose sight of the receding light. "As fine as you could be when you learn your ex-boyfriend is a cop."

Maddie didn't like seeing Nikki angry. "Maybe he just wanted to help us out."

Nikki's laughter was hollow and cold. "Don't kid yourself, Maddie. He just wanted access to the mafia, that's all. We were just pawns to him. Don't turn your back on me now."

"I'm not," Maddie protested, a little hurt Nikki would think she'd betray her. "But he just seemed so honest – the look in his eyes, I mean. I don't think he wanted to hurt us, Nik."

But she could see the silhouette of Nikki shaking her head. Her leather jacket and braided red hair made stark shadows on the walls that looked like creepy monsters ready to attack. "That's your gullibility talking. He would've said anything if it meant he'd get you on his side. But you played it smart and stuck with me. That's how it is in this world, Maddie, everyone's out for their own gain. There are no saints here, at least not in the City of Angels."

Maddie thought there seemed to be a bit of irony to that, but decided not to point it out. Nikki didn't seem to be in the mood for bad attempts at humor.

They reached the bottom of the stairs. It seemed to be a sort of basement, although there wasn't much in it. There were small yellow windows that hinted at the street outside, with its faint lights and occasional flash of a car driving by. To their left were doublewide doors. A set of keys were still inside the knob, ready to be locked.

"Who leaves their keys out like that?" Maddie asked, to no one in particular. Nikki simply shrugged and turned the knob, pulling open the door and flashing her light inside before going onwards.

"Kevin Flynn was an eccentric genius, who knows what went on his head." Nikki replied. They seemed to be in some sort of office, just as dusty as the arcade above them, only with no lights or music. It was cool down here, and Maddie noted the old couch and tack board with family pictures on it. It was hard to think Kevin Flynn as a family man when all she ever heard about him was him being the visionary head of ENCOM. A man like that, one wouldn't assume he'd have so many things on his plate to handle.

Nikki's flashlight glanced off a strange machine. A generator of sorts? Or a camera? She could see the lenses at the end of the tube at the top of the...whatever it was. It seemed oddly high tech and complicated to belong in a basement. She saw that it was plugged into the wall, with a series of cords leading to the other end of the room, where a desk stood.

No, not a desk. _A computer_. Nikki sat down in the seat and wiped the dust off, and the black surface lit up with a touch screen and keyboard. It seemed as though someone had been here before, some time ago. Maddie could see where someone's hand had moved, doing the same as Nikki's did now, pushing away the dust. She couldn't tell how long it might've been – the dust seemed thicker than ever down here.

Nikki seemed to be looking at something above the desk. She flashed the light at it. It was a long sheet of paper taped together. Small blue and red dashed composed a weird picture full of hexagons and rectangles – if anything, it looked like a building of some sort. A very complicated looking building. There were words written all around the diagram, most of it math, but the title at the top read – "The Grid? What's the Grid?"

Maddie shrugged. "He's an eccentric genius, who knows what went on inside his head."

Nikki threw Maddie a look, not appreciating getting her words thrown back in her face. "Thanks, you're a doll."

Her sister tapped at the computer screen, looking through the most recent activity. Not surprisingly, most of it occurred about thirty years ago, although Maddie noted there was a large jump in the time stamps from the older ones to the last few. They seemed to have been made only a couple months back. Whoever had been here hadn't returned in a while.

"Hm, I'm not very good at this computer stuff," Nikki frowned, trying to log in with whatever password she could come up with, and only succeeding in failures. "Alright, let's try the history, see what he did before."

Their understanding of computers was very rudimentary. The most exposure Maddie had with computers had been Google searches and e-mail. They did not have the resources for hacking into other accounts or computers, and rarely had enough money to get one for themselves. Besides, Nikki had always deemed them too delicate and expensive for their way of life, so they mostly relegated research to libraries, where access was free.

Maddie was aware of the faint thumping of the music still ongoing upstairs. She took a little comfort in the noise, lip-singing the words to the old song. She didn't want to be in here anymore, it was too creepy. Filled with the memories and mementos of someone she knew only on a legendary level – it was like reading someone's private journal, or walking in on a person naked. Everything here meant something to Kevin Flynn, and made him appear not as a famed celebrity, but a normal man with his own hopes and dreams.

A haunted basement of a dead man. Well, _maybe_ he was dead. It wasn't like anyone knew for sure.

"Oh, what's this? Laser control?" Nikki straightened in her chair, her eyes wide with excitement. Maddie could hear the start up of some distant engine as a yellow image appeared on the screen. "Flynn owns a _laser_? Oh, that _has_ to be worth something. I wonder what it does... Aperture Clear?"

That's when Maddie noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Another light, small and distant. She looked over, at the machine that was generating it. Not a camera, that's where the light was coming from and was shining directly _at them_...

"Uh, Nikki," Apprehension filled Maddie's lungs, making her voice rise several octaves. She prodded at her sister's shoulder, not taking her eyes off of the light in fear of something bad happening. What the hell was it? "I don't think you should play with that anymore..."

"Stop it, Maddie, I'm know what I'm doing," Nikki knocked away Maddie's hand with a shrug of annoyance. She tossed her head, scowling down at the screen. "I bet there's something in here that we can sell – anything a Flynn makes _must_ be worth at least a milli, if not more..."

"Nikki, wait! We don't know what it does yet!" What if it was some doomsday device the military ordered Flynn to make? A laser could mean anything, and none that Maddie could think of where good. Maddie shot out a hand before she could press the _accept_ button, but couldn't move fast enough. "No, stop!"

Nikki hit the button. Behind her, Maddie saw the light rise and brighten.

FWOOOM.


	2. Not In Kansas Anymore

**I had started writing this chapter from Maddie's perspective but switched to Nikki's about midway through without realizing it. I think the chapters will be of different POVs, but I don't think there will be any particular order.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

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Chapter Two

Not In Kansas Anymore

The first thing that told Nikki things had become very bad was when she suddenly got reverse tunnel-vision. Instead of the world getting farther and farther away from her, surrounded by blackness, it was the other way around. The oblivion rushed towards her from some imperceptible distance, pushing her reality behind and away from her peripheral vision until she was surrounded in nothing but darkness.

The world tipped and jerked back, like it had been ripped from underneath Nikki's feet, sending her tumbling headfirst into the darkness as it rushed in to greet her. Her stomach dropped out, like she had just tripped over the edge of the Grand Canyon. An overwhelming pressure pushed on Nikki in every direction, making her want to crumple like some aluminum can. She could no longer feel or hear or see anything, just the sensation of pain and movement. Her breath had been sucked from her throat, and now it seemed she had been transported into the vacuum of outer space, ready to destroy her.

Then, the world came back as suddenly as it left. The world returned, zooming in from the distance, flying under her feet and taking place as the walls around her. Maddie's hand returned on top of Nikki's shoulder and the entire thing seemed to jerk beneath her as it settled in. Nikki rocked back in her chair, grabbing the armrest before she could tip over. Maddie lost her balance, forced back by the some unseen force, and feel flat on her butt onto a clean, slick black surface.

No dust?

Nikki realized the room she came into was not the same she had just left. For one thing, the laser (she figured out what it was, finally) was no longer pointed at the desk. Which was now what it was, a simple desk and chair, where Nikki resided. The world seemed to spin again and Nikki clapped her hands on the surface of the table as she looked for purchase to steady herself. They gasped simultaneously, looking around incredulously, then at each other. The sisters' eyes were wide in identical shock and confusion.

"What the hell?" Nikki raised her hands, wondering where the screen had gone from the table. It no longer reacted to her touch. It was just a plain black surface. "Where is everything?"

Hands still up in utter bewilderment; Nikki gazed at the blank, smooth walls – no longer brick or cement – and towards the ceiling, no longer wood and rafters. Just the same black metallic gleam, as was the floor and walls. The couch had disappeared, as did the pictures and diagram. All that remained was the sisters and the desk.

Trembling, shocked and looking a little sea-sick, Maddie slowly brought herself back to her feet. "I don't...I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Nikki threw her a disbelieving look. That was impossible. She refused to believe in her sister's wild daydreams. "Don't be stupid, Maddie, we're still – we're still in the basement, I'm sure of it. Look, the doors are still there. I bet this is some stupid trap Flynn set up in case someone tried to hack into his computer. It's just CGI, I'm telling you."

The floor beneath her feet certainly didn't feel like CGI. Maddie didn't look like she believed Nikki for a second. Nikki started to doubt herself as well. There was a tiny hope in her heart that maybe this was just an illusion. This looked too real to be a fake.

Nikki was just grasping at straws, trying to explain this any way she could. CGI was the best she had, green screen was second. They hesitated before moving, unsure of what they would find beyond the doublewide doors. Would the arcade have changed as well? How in the world had Flynn accomplished this?

It was the shouting that got the two sisters moving. Nikki lunged forward, slamming Maddie back before she could follow. On no uncertain terms would Nikki allow her sister to get herself hurt. If there was trouble outside, it was best Maddie stayed in here where it was safe. Or had the illusion of safety.

Nikki burst through the doors, but did not find herself at the bottom of a dusty old stairwell. No, she was out on the street, bursting through the twin archways in front of Flynn's arcade – the front of it an exact replica of the one Nikki recognized in Los Angeles.

Only she was no longer in Los Angeles. That much was clear. Beyond the Flynn's sign, the building kept rising – higher and higher, a skyscraper of monumental proportions. Its black surface was only broken by thin glowing lines. The top was lost amongst the dark clouds, so thick that the night sky could not be seen.

The fight brought Nikki's attention back towards the ground. A dark, glowing street, going off in three directions. In the middle of which, a gang fight had broken out. But it was unlike any gang fight Nikki had ever seen, its participants as strange as the weapons they used.

No guns to be seen, but ballistic missiles stilled bounced off the ground and surrounding buildings, leaving glowing marks in their wakes. Nikki threw herself to the ground, just in time to avoid what seemed to be a glowing-rimmed Frisbee coming for her head. It curved in the air, as a Frisbee would, and sunk into the spine of a man standing to her left. It shattered him into thousands of little glowing cubes, much as a Frisbee wouldn't.

Nikki screamed at the sight. What kind of freak weapon did that? She didn't want to dissolve into cubes! Where the hell was she?  
That's when her survival instinct kicked in. Survival of the fittest was a lesson Nikki learned the hard way, but she appreciated it nonetheless. Some people had it easy, not having to worry about the things Nikki did. She lunged for the disc before its owner could get it – when he came, a man dressed in entirely black with glowing orange lights, Nikki kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into another fighter, toppling them both over.

The disc had a hollow center, making it easier for Nikki to hold. Still, a hiss escaped past her lips when the blade around its circumference cut into her skin. She noted, upon closer inspection, that the blade around the edge hummed as it spun. She decided to suck it up as she gripped it harder and felt blood running down her hand. She needed this, if she wanted to get out of this fight alive.

The first person that came at her was a woman with marks on her face like a football player. The woman seemed both alarmed and confused at the sight of Nikki, and her footing was awkward, as if she didn't know how to engage close combat. Nikki dodged her easily and tripped the new attacker, who skidded a fantastic six feet on her torso across the ground.

A pair of arms wrapped around Nikki's shoulders as she prepared to finish off the woman. Nikki gasped as she was thrown off balance, nearly losing grip on her weapon. She tumbled to the ground, rolling to soften her fall, before swiping out her legs underneath her attacker.

The man went down and Nikki picked herself up, throwing her disc at him and watching in morbid fascination as he crumbled to tiny green pieces.

Who were these people?

Behind her came a furious roar and Nikki turned around just in time to get punched in the face. She was sent reeling, clutching her nose as another barrage of fists slammed into her shoulder. Nikki almost fell again but caught herself against the wall of the arcade.

Her attacker, someone in bright orange lights and an uneven Mohawk, tried to get another good throw at her. He was completely unarmed, apparently having lost his weapon during the battle. Nikki almost smiled as she dodged the punch she expected, spinning around him and digging her disc into his spine. The victim uttered one last garbled cry before disintegrating.

_Are they even human_? Nikki wondered, looking down at her own bleeding hand. At least she was still normal. She was still made of flesh and blood, and while these people seemed to as well, it was only a pretense to their incredible fragility.

_That just makes them easier to kill_, Nikki thought grimly to herself. She jumped at the next closest combatant, a skinny guy with a bowl cut (ew, the Seventies were not Nikki's favorite decade of fashion), and took him down before he even had a chance to defend himself. The tiny little cubes fell through her fingers like a sieve.

She looked around. Nikki wasn't fighting on anyone's side, after killing indiscriminately amongst the gang members (if that's what they were). They seemed hesitant to fight her and tried to keep away when she approached, only engaging others dressed in the same close-fitting, dark and light-lined clothes.

Nikki wasn't going to stop until it was safe for her and Maddie to get out of here and find a safe place to hide. "Come on, who else wants to have a go?"  
"Get lost, Program, this isn't your fight!" a woman shouted at her, the same one she had knocked down before. Nikki made for her assailant, planning to do to her what she did to the last two or three fellas, before the doors to the arcade burst open and Maddie appeared on the scene.

"Nikki!" Maddie called, looking alarmed at the sight of her sister wielding the disc as if she were about to kill the woman. "What are you doing?"

She froze – Nikki wouldn't kill in front of her sister if she could help it. Maddie was simply too weak to watch something so brutal happen. It was a type of burden no-one should suffer, to live with for the rest of their lives. For Maddie, it would give her endless nightmares. And Maddie's nightmares were Nikki's nightmares.

The woman seemed to realize Nikki's hesitation and acted before Nikki could stop her. Instead, Nikki shouted, "Maddie, get back inside!" just as three of the fighters, including the woman, made a beeline for Maddie.

Her sister screamed and ducked the first set of arms, dodging around the second and completely avoiding the third. It must have been pure luck she managed to get away. Maddie slipped on the ground, slick with the many tiny cubes, and headed straight into the middle of the battle in her blind panic.

Unlike Nikki, Maddie didn't have a survival instinct. Nikki had hoped that maybe she could instill some of that into her sister, but Maddie didn't have the mental capacity to move beyond personal and social morals to remain alive. Killing, for example. Maddie couldn't kill a person to save her life.

Then Nikki remembered these people weren't human, and burst back into action. Holding no compunctions whatsoever, Nikki threw her disc at the closest man going for Maddie as she quailed in the street. The man falling apart into tiny green bits, Maddie screamed and ran in the opposite direction, nearly tripping over her own shoes to get away.

Nikki tried to think of a plan. She had to get to Maddie, protect her while she fought off the warriors. But there were too many of them within the twenty feet between the two sisters. The people-who-weren't-humans had figured out a chink in Nikki's armor. They were going to attack Maddie with all they had.

She could not stand to let that happen.

Maddie had her back to a wide open street clear of anything. She faced Nikki, expression pulled into one of intense fear and worry. She called out, "Nikki, behind you!"

Nikki responded immediately. Dropping down to a crouch, Nikki dodged the attack that she deemed mostly like would attack her upper body. Uttering a cry of rage, she spun around, lunging and tackling the shins of the man behind her. He had thrown his own disc, which returned and clattered to the ground because there was no one left to catch it.

She was aware of screaming now. Had this man been important? Then Nikki turned around and saw Maddie bathed in light.

The people seemed frozen in shock for a moment. Maddie didn't seem to know what was going on either, looking around in confusion as people began to run away from her. What was going on? Was she doing this? Where was this light coming from?

Nikki realized the light wasn't emitting _from_ Maddie, but _above_ her. A searchlight, attached to one of the most terrifying things she had ever seen. "Run! Maddie, run!"

As the ship descended, its engines shook the area around her. Nikki was torn between running away, as the others were, and staying to save her sister from this monster. What _was _that thing? Some sort of ship? It was shaped like a giant gate or arch, with two thick columns for legs and a bridge connected the two at the top. Blue, fiery energy emitted from the bottom of its feet.

Maddie tried to get away. She headed towards Nikki, but came to an abrupt stop. Nikki didn't understand why, until she saw the ground falling away in large hexagons in front of them. A deep, several-meters-wide canyon that separated Nikki and Maddie. But there was still a chance!

"You have to jump!" Nikki shouted over the roar of the ship's engines. She waved her arms over to her, as if to convey the message in case it wasn't any more clear.

But Maddie just shook her head. "I can't! It's too wide!"

"Make a running start!"

But there was no running start as the bridge of the ship began to lower on the legs as it landed. Past the windows Nikki could see people standing. Some in a line, and two on either side. They did not look friendly. "Maddie, come on!"

But Maddie was paralyzed. As two forms stepped onto the ground, they made quick strides towards her. Maddie glanced at them, then went back to Maddie, extending her arm out as if it could somehow reach her over the giant gap. "Nikki, help!"

It hadn't occurred to Nikki until now that _she_ should be the one trying to jump; it was like jumping in to save someone as they were about to be arrested. She couldn't incriminate herself as well! At least one of them had to remain free, at all costs, if the other one ever had a chance.

Either way, it was already too late. The two soldier-like men had pinned Maddie's arms behind her back, shouting to each other: "Another Stray!" before hauling Maddie back, kicking and screaming.  
"No!" Nikki could only watch helplessly as they shoved Maddie onboard, letting her fall into the line of other criminals they had on board. She tried to get back off, but something seemed to be preventing her.

Nikki was only aware of her own screaming because her throat felt so raw. She couldn't hear herself over the roar of the ship as it took off again, taking Maddie with it.

_Where could they be taking her? _Nikki thought as the giant ship rose in the air, faster than she could run. It turned a corner and continued to rise, over the buildings and past the clouds, until Nikki couldn't see it anymore. She tried to run after it, but the attempt was in vain. She dropped to her knees, arm still reaching out for Maddie who was no longer there.

Nikki could feel her eyes starting to burn, tears threatening to make themselves apparent. _No_, she told herself, sucking in deep, shaking gasps. _Be strong. Maddie needs you to be strong._

All her life she had Maddie at her side. While Nikki was a firm believer in the idea of a dog-eat-dog world, she couldn't help the soft spot she had for Maddie. No one, not even their parents, would ever come before her.

Not even Justin.

A shudder coursed through Nikki's body, sending her heart into jitters. That bastard. She knew she should have never trusted him, that stupid face that promised to never leave her, never abandon her. He had betrayed her trust, he had Nikki believing in someone who never actually existed. A cop! How could she have ever thought she loved a cop?

The adrenalin was starting to wear off, but Nikki couldn't tell if she had received any injuries or not. She felt sore from the fight, swinging around and taking down those gangsters. She looked around, wondering if there were any left. Maybe she could coerce one of them to help her get Maddie back. They'd have to, after she had proved her prowess in battle.

But the streets were empty. The not-human gangsters had effectively disappeared from sight. Nikki was all alone.

Sighing, she got to her feet. Nikki would not abandon Maddie; she would prove to her sister that she had made the right choice picking Nikki over Justin. Nikki would find those who took her sister and showed them what happened when they messed with her family.

Nikki wouldn't give up, no matter what happened. Maddie's life depended on it.

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**All reviews are appreciated.**


	3. New Faces, New Places

Chapter Three

New Faces, New Places

Maddie squeezed her eyes shut as the ship – whatever it was – took off into the night sky. Her breath hitched as they ascended, higher and higher, until Maddie could no longer hear herself crying over the wind. Nikki's face, her scream, was implanted firmly into her mind, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not forget it.

Hiccupping, she shook in her bindings. Her feet were held in place by glowing cuffs around her shoes. They looked simpler than ankle cuffs, which Maddie had figured out how to unlock with her own wrists tied during a bad situation with the cops – but try as she might, Maddie could not shift her position. Even if she _had_ managed to get out, there was nowhere for her to go a mile up in the air.

Trapped, terrified, and left in destiny's design, Maddie discovered she was not the only person in the same condition. On either side of her were others, dressed in black clothes with strange glowing strips of varying colors. Blue, green, and yellow – but the only ones who wore red were managing the ship, Maddie noticed. Their masked faces and thick staves left her uneasy. Everything about them, from their warbled voices to their stilted movements gave her the heebie-jeebies.

There was a prisoner on either side of her, both male. Neither dared look at her, much less their other inmates. Maddie tried to talk to one of them, ask where they were going. His response did not make her feel better. "No escape! No escape! No one gets out alive! No escape!"

She swallowed and turned to the other one, who only glared at her and said, "If I were you, Program, I'd keep my mouth shut and my head down."

Maddie took his words to heart and ducked her head, now looking down at her shoes. She did not expect to be captivated by the view beneath. So much so, in fact, that Maddie realized she had stopped crying. Any other thought and emotion had been pushed aside by sheer, jaw-dropping awe of the world around her.

At first, Maddie was too busy crying to really appreciate her surroundings, but now she was glad she got to see it. Tiny cars and motorcycles, on streets outlined in blue and white lights, in a pattern that felt familiar to her. Maddie gazed at the small dots dashing across sidewalks and into buildings. These buildings rose up on either side of the ship – tall, geometric skyscrapers larger than anything she had ever seen. They seemed to defy logic in their size. Black monoliths created by some all-powerful deity who could ignore the laws of physics if he wanted to.

No windows or window cleaners, cranes or signs – proof that as near possibility this place looked, there seemed to be a certain lack of..._je ne sais quoi_, personal touches to these structures. A level of architectural beauty so perfect that they were almost inhuman. Perhaps the buildings were all made by the same brilliant mind – Flynn's, perhaps? – but Maddie knew they were beyond a doubt no longer on Earth.

Were there people who really called this place home? The atmosphere carried a cold darkness with it, a suffocating loneliness that didn't seem to welcome any life forms.

Maddie felt a jolt as the ship started to descend. The pillars of the city fell away to what one might call a suburb, if there had been any houses to fit the definition. There was only featureless flat, black ground interlaced with glowing circuit-like lines, converging towards a bright dome in the distance. Maddie's immediate thought at the sight was:_ the Coliseum!_

The idea felt stupid a second later because it looked almost nothing like it. But Maddie wondered if this was where they were heading; the place that the person beside her thought was inescapable.

Two other ships appeared out of the clouds forming a line in front of them. In unison, they fell and Maddie felt trepidation as the dome in the distance grew larger. It was bigger than she first imagined and she wondered how accurate her analogy to the Coliseum really was. _No escape..._ not many gladiators who fought in the Coliseum during the Roman Empire ever made it out alive, did they?

Above them, lightning flashed. Thunder could not be heard over the roar of the ship's engines. The closer to the ground they got, the agitated. The one on her left started to shout the same phrase over and over again. Maddie wanted to plug her ears but there was no room to move her arms.

The ships' departed their line to land on separate docking stations. The landing jarred her teeth and would have knocked her off balance had she not been already held to the spot. The ship's middle started to lower on its legs, sliding down like an elevator to the ground, where it came to a gentle stop.

The two red-lined soldiers emerged from their posts and started at either end of the line of prisoners, saying one word to each, then stepping to the next. Maddie watched with a dry mouth as the prisoners started to cry and wail at the word spoken to them. What could have possibly been said to make them so terrified? Maddie wracked her head but no single word she could think of could emit such a reaction.

As the soldier got nearer, she could hear what they were saying: "_Games... Games... Rectify... Games..._"

She was near the half-way point, and the man on her right was the closest to hear his fate. He stared, stone-faced, into the mask of the soldier, but she could see a shift in his eyes, the uncertain waver that he knew his fate was inevitable. When the soldier assigned his fate to _Rectify_, he closed his eyes, heaving a sigh of resignation.

Then the soldier stepped in front of her, tilted his head down in short appraisal before declaring, "_Games_."

He moved on.

A rush of air escaped her lips. Maddie felt herself panting again, the onset of another panic attack. There seemed something loaded into those words – something that meant more than just a couple rounds of Scrabble or _Call of Duty_. From the way those soldiers were now calling them 'players' instead of 'prisoners', Maddie highly doubted the Games they were talking about were the kind played with controllers and virtual avatars.

Maddie wondered if she was at a disadvantage now. Even virtual gaming could have at least given her an edge, an idea how any of this might turn out.

She supposed it wouldn't have matter either way. Life on the streets didn't really offer a lot of opportunities to play on game consoles or computers. She probably had as much a chance at surviving these Games as anyone else on board. Probably less.

Maddie didn't want fear to take control again, so she wondered...how bad could this be?

But the man muttering to her left did not take the news of his fate as well as the others, if that was even possible. The soldiers started taking the prisoners off one by one – as soon as his feet were freed, the man dodged underneath the arms of the soldiers and made a break for hard ground. "_No escape! Must find an escape!_"

The soldiers went after him, shouting. For a brief moment, Maddie through she was free. With the soldiers distracted and their backs turned, she could make a break for it.

But how? Her feet were still locked tight, unable to move. She could sense dissent on either side of her, disappointment that escape was so close, yet so far. Maddie continued to watch, first in hope, then with rising horror as the man made a beeline for the edge of the platform. She could not see the bottom from here.

_No..._

Maddie heard him scream as he jumped off the edge. His voice was cut off too soon. The soldiers looked down at what remained, not trading a single comment before standing up straight again and returning to the ship.

She swallowed her sobs in her throat, doing her best to remain composed. _Don't let them see your fear, _said Nikki's voice in her head. _Don't let them know they have power over you_.

In desperate times, Maddie always thought to herself: What would Nikki do? In this case, she wasn't sure. It wasn't like they were experts in traveling alternate dimensions or something. But they did know a thing or two about how to act when captured by enemies. Maddie recalled one bad situation where the police thought they could coerce Nikki into surrendering a rather large quantity of cash by taking Maddie hostage. It only worked out for the two of them because of a newbie cop and a convenient janitor's closet with a uniform inside. Maddie couldn't hide forever, but rather disguised herself rather convincingly as part of the precinct's maintenance staff and sneaking out the back door. If there was one thing besides hiding Maddie was good at, it was become inconspicuous and unremarkable. Basically another form of hiding.

The soldiers were not taking any chances now. They took off the players one by one, escorting each side to keep them from trying to escape. The idea hadn't even crossed her mind when it came to Maddie's turn.

However, instead of being placed on a glowing floor pad that descended into the ground (an elevator? Maddie thought), a third soldier approached them as they stepped off the landing platform. "There is a line for the Armories. We cannot take anymore. Send this one to Holding."

Maddie couldn't believe how relieved she was, even though she understood almost nothing the soldier said. Armories? Did this place actually have the decency to give their players a fighting chance? She could only imagine Holding to be where they kept the surviving people, or the ones marked for death.

_Dead girl walking_, she thought to herself as the soldiers marched her past the floor-elevators to the great, imposing wall of the Coliseum. There was a door on the side, small in comparison to the behemoth it was a part of. But it was, in fact, another elevator, as Maddie discovered when the soldiers shoved her unceremoniously inside, the doors opening and closing automatically. She barely managed to recover her balance before knocked back on her rear once more when the floor shot up with incredible velocity.

_How is this possible_? Maddie didn't know how to think, so she thought rationally. It probably wasn't possible to apply reality to this nightmare, but Maddie tried. She thought, at this speed, she should be crushed and the capsule overheating, but everything felt fine. A little dizzy, yes, but absolutely fine.

She seemed to be in that elevator forever, although it was probably just a few seconds. At the top, the doors on the other side of the wall opened to reveal two more soldiers. Maddie didn't fight against them, even though all four of her limbs were free. Their sticks were much more intimidating, but she _did_ try to convince them something was wrong. "Look, I don't know why I'm here. What did I do wrong? Where am I? Why am I here?"

One of the soldiers seemed to be alarmed by her rapid-fire questions, turning to look at her with a curious frown on his face. He was about to open his mouth and say something when the soldier on the other side cut in, "Don't bother. She's just a Stray."

The curious soldier closed his mouth with an audible _click!_ He turned back to face ahead, not giving Maddie a second glance as she continued to plead with them.

They moved faster than her, so had to half-drag, half-carry Maddie to their destination. The hallways they were going through were thin and long, with green-blue lights on the floor and walls shining the way. There were no doors or windows so Maddie had no way to tell where they were inside the construct. She had thought the Holding would be _beneath_ the stadium, as it was in the original Coliseum. Then again, Maddie was traversing through a world that didn't quite obey all the laws of physics, so she couldn't take anything for granted.

Then the soldiers and their escort took a turn. On a wall to her right, Maddie read the words CELL-BLOCK D4 – HOLDING. She paused a second too long in reading it and was shoved forward, so hard she almost fell out of their grip. Stumbling forward, she saw something different on the walls. New, blue glowing walls, translucent like windows.

But instead of showing a view of the inside of the stadium, Maddie saw people. People in thick black clothing like armor, in various colors. Some of them were even red, like the soldiers, but they could hardly be considered the same. Their expressions, haggard and darting, spoke of hostility and paranoia as opposed to the rigid, unemotional precision the soldiers worked at.

Other colors. Yellow, green, even lighter shades. Some of the prisoners weren't even wearing armor, just sheathes of black that could have easily translated into everyday clothes back on earth. Certainly nothing that would pertain well in a fight. How did these people fight, anyways? With guns and ammo? Or were they more old-fashioned, like swords?

The soldiers still weren't answer any of her questions. Coming to an abrupt stop, they turned towards the right wall. The one on her left pressed a button on the pad beside an empty cell glass. It disappeared like a hologram and before Maddie could ask another question, they pushed her inside.

"You're making a mistake, I can't be here!" Maddie said, rushing back towards the opening, hoping for one last chance at freedom. Unfortunately, hologram window returned before she could touch them. Maddie cried out when instead of slamming into a glass surface, her shoulder hit what felt much more like an electric fence. "Ow!"

The soldiers marched away without another glance in her direction, heading back out the way they came. Maddie fell back, rubbing her aching shoulder. What the hell? What kind of wall was _that_? It definitely wasn't any hologram she had ever seen or heard of before.

To her left a voice drawled, "You might want to watch those force fields. There'll be plenty of chances of getting killed in the Arena."

Maddie spun around, caught off guard, towards the source of the voice. Between the cells was another translucent blue wall, smaller like a window or viewing port. On the other side slouched a young man in the thick armor many other prisoners here wore, with curly hair and twirling a weird Frisbee-looking thing in his hands. His lights, unlike so many, were a bright blue. She wondered what kind of sign it was, the stripes of colors meant. Blue always seemed like a good color to her, at least when compared to red.

But was it that simple? Were the red-lined soldiers and prisoners evil, and the ones with blue the good guys? What did that mean for those in green and purple and yellow? With this thought conflicting her decision, Maddie wasn't sure how to respond. She fell back on her only tactic – what would Nikki do?

Maddie figured Nikki would be a smartass in this situation. The guy kind of looked obnoxious, anyways. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. I figured that out myself." Then, as an afterthought, she asked, "Who're you?"

The man smirked at her. "The name's Ram."


	4. Enemy of my Enemy

**I don't know why I haven't uploaded this earlier, it was almost done anyways. Well, whatever, it's here now. This chapter took a lot longer than I expected, though, because making up program-lingo and not making it sound dumb is really hard. I hope you like it!**

**All reviews are appreciated.**

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Chapter Four

Enemy of my Enemy

Ram never really enjoyed the Arena Games, but after megacycles of being offline, he appreciated every moment that made his processor run. He was in no state to be complaining (after all, he could be very easily derezzed), but a part of his system desired to be free of this. Ram had only a few more rounds to go before the Sentries would finally set him free on the Grid.

That is, if he survived.

His cell was tiny. Ram had never thought himself claustrophobic, and cursed his User for installing such a useless function in his processing unit. Fear never did a program any good. And why an _actuary_ program? His prime function had little to do with small spaces, and there was no logical explanation for it.

Users would always be a mystery to him.

He sighed, resting his head back on the wall behind him. The cell was dark besides the circuits and force fields keeping him inside. The cell to his right and left were empty. Both programs that belonged there he knew. The one to the right housed a female calculator program, and in his opinion was the better company. The other was a service program by the name of Crom, who had a bad attitude. That was probably why he got conscripted in the first place. No Sentry likes to be disrespected, even though their systems were totally scrambled anyways.

The female program's name was Kryl, and Ram wouldn't deny he kind of had a warm spot in his core for her. Actuary programs like Ram never lived long in the Arena, being designed to handle a User's insurance data, not combat or hostile situations. But ever since the Grid was reloaded by the Creator and was cut off from the Encom system, they had very little to contribute to the Grid, since no program had a need for insurance (much less have any idea what it was).

But Ram was lucky his User upgraded him with a new processor unit that allowed him to register another program's intent faster than default. That gave him an edge in the Games when anticipating his opponents' moves. It was perhaps the only reason he made it this far.

Kryl had similar reasons for her survival. She was able to calculate the angles of an incoming Disc or Light Cycle, something only the more advanced security and Black Guard programs could do. She didn't have much fighting experience downloaded, but on-the-job action was helping her adapt and acquire new data.

But the best part about Kryl wasn't the fact that she was mathematically gifted or she could fight well when she had to, but rather that he could talk numbers with her and not feel like he's speaking to deaf audio sensors. She understood the numbers he spoke, and provided data that challenged his inner circuits, and made his processor work even when he wasn't moving. It was quite invigorating. After spending several cycles in the Arena, they had made up a game themselves, challenging each other with complicated math problems. Ram always enjoyed these games, whenever both of them were awake enough to participate.

He kind of wanted to tell her how he felt about her, but it wasn't a good idea when at any second the Sentries could take you away and your cell suddenly becomes some other program's home. She had only a few more rounds to do than he did to earn her freedom. Ram crossed his fingers (a User gesture that he didn't know he could perform, and something he wished he could stop, especially when other programs gave him dirty looks), hoping she would make it out as well.

Ram looked up as two Sentries escorted a new conscript into the cell block. He looked up, surprised. All the cells on this prison block were already taken. Oh, no. Please, don't let Kryl's cell be this new program's home. Please, please, please, Users…

But Ram's worry passed by quickly, when the Sentries passed Kryl's cell and stopped at the Crom's door, who Ram assumed hadn't survived the Disc Wars. He seriously doubted Crom had been able to defeat a Danger Level Four combatant to earn a new unit. If it had happened, Ram wasn't sure if he would laugh or cry.

He studied the new conscript, a female program like Kryl, but taller and blond, with heavy bangs. Her hair was tied neatly together on her head, a style that was a little too high-class and inefficient for a program to be fighting in. Ram had to guess she was a Siren who had fallen on hard times, or perhaps one of those helpless data-pushers.

"You're making a mistake, I can't be here!" the program said, rushing back for the door when they shoved her in. Unfortunately, the force fields closed in before she could touch the Sentry programs. She hit the solid wall of energy and bounced back with a sharp zapping sound. She cried out and rubbed her sore circuits. "Ow!"

Ram winced. Her words were common phrases most programs uttered when first conscripted, but his processor buzzed in confusion. Her vocal subroutines were unlike anything he'd ever heard before. High-frequency and harmonic, something only higher function programs were designed with. But what was that kind of program doing in the Arena? Sentries didn't go for them.

He frowned, letting his processor continue to run. She couldn't possibly be one of those …those revolutionaries, could she?

No. No high-function program would risk their luxurious lifestyle for a movement that had a good chance of not working.

He pretended to be uninterested when he remarked, "You might want to watch those force fields. There'll be plenty of chances of getting killed in the Arena."

The program turned to him, her scowl lightening a little. She checked her circuits one last time before approaching the translucent barrier separating their cells. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. I figured that out myself. Who're you?"

"The name's Ram." He smirked. 'Captain Obvious' was a User-Idiom he hadn't heard in a while. It was refreshing. He found her appearance odd, however. Clothing, not armor, made of materials he had never seen before. Why hadn't the Sentries taken her to the Armory first? "I take it you've never been to the Arena before."

The program frowned, then looked away. "Uh, no. I've never even heard of this place before, much less been here. Is it like the gladiator games?"

"Uh…I don't know." He gave her a strange look. What was a gladiator? It was a word he had never heard before. And what program in their right processing unit hadn't heard of the Arena? Ram wondered if she had system glitches, and felt a twinge of sympathy for her. It didn't take too much to lose sense of one's self in a chaotic Grid. "The Games are our punishment for not following the rules in the Grid. But I suppose it could be worse. Without the Arena, there wouldn't be anything to keep rowdy programs in line. All the criminals get sent here. You'll be face to face with some soon."

She sighed, flopping down on the ground beside the shield wall. She held herself in way very familiar to Ram. Curled in with hunched shoulders, as if the very walls were going to swallow her whole. Shell-shocked programs, especially those who get injuries or lose friends, never quite recover.

After a moment, she said, "This is like straight out of a bad movie. We should never have gone into that arcade."

The words 'movie' and 'arcade' triggered memory files, but as his processor tried to retrieve them, the procedure failed and left his mind buggy and confused.

Ram's memory files had been corrupted ever since he had been brought back online again roughly ten cycles ago. He hadn't been experiencing too many problems lately, but now that he realized there was something familiar about this program, it frustrated him to no end that he couldn't recall what it was. He was positive he didn't recognize her face. Wasn't there a User word for that, too?

Oh, right. _Déjà vu._ That wasn't even basic English, never mind binary or code. What did it mean? If and when Ram ever came face-to-face with a User, he would ask them why they had so many different ways of saying things that could be easier said in a line of ones and zeroes. Why did they have to make everything so complicated? Ram rubbed his forehead and tried to concentrate on the moment. He tended to get distracted by the tangent lines of code running through his head.

She noticed the pain on his face. "Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?"

Her concern was odd, because she asked it in a way that implied she could help. But that was impossible. She wasn't a medic program, not with white circuitry instead of green. And even a medic couldn't heal memory glitches. That was a problem deep in his coding, the place that detailed his primary directives, something no program had the Grid authorization to access. Only a User could fix a program's function problems, and they had abandoned the Grid cycles ago. "Uh, no. Just some memory bugs, that's all." In an effort to change the subject, he asked, "So, uh, what's your name?"

The program paused, biting her lip. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Ram frowned at her. Only programs too lost to save couldn't remember their own name. It was almost sad, really, until she finally said, "It's…Flynn."

Ram's processor short-circuited again when her name triggered another corrupted memory file. He growled, frustrated. Did he somehow _know_ this program? He was pretty sure he had never seen this Flynn person before. And what kind of name is Flynn, anyways? That sounded too User-like for a program to use. Maybe the Sentries brought her in for having a snobby name.

It was then he noticed that she had no Identity Disc. Was she a deserter, or a Stray? She seemed too lucid to have lost her entire memory core. Perhaps she was one of the unlucky programs who got their Discs stolen. She certainly didn't act like she had lost her entire memory and primary directives. Ram couldn't be sure what had happened. Maybe she thought losing her Disc would mean she would be untraceable to the Grid, which was silly. The Grid didn't lose track of anything.

Flynn looked like she was about to make a comment about his memory problems again, but he quickly changed the subject. "So, uh, you any good with a Disc?"

That got her to smile a little. _Glitch_, why did that look so familiar? He never had three bug problems in a matter of microcycles. "Are you kidding? I've never fought before in my entire life. I probably won't stand a chance on the Arena. I'm just not..._made_ for fighting, you know?"

"I'm sure you're not _that_ bad." Ram winced in sympathy for her. Not a lot of programs believed they could reach beyond the parameters of their primary functions – by the Creator, Ram definitely didn't think he was capable of throwing a Disc until it finally came down to it. "I mean, I was an _actuary_ program! Still am, and I've made it this far. I calculate you're just underestimating yourself."

Ram was one of the few, rare few, who believed programs could do what only the Users and ISO's could: learn. It was not something a program should share with others, and Ram was careful with his wording. The last thing he needed was a potential ally gone against him, then turning out to be a better fighter than anticipated. A program had to be diligent with whom they trusted.

Flynn in turn went wide-eyed, her face changing to an odd shade of white-red. "Oh. That's really nice of you, but all of this is just way to scary for me. I just want to go home."

"Don't we all," Ram chuckled under his breath. He tossed his Disc up in the air, watching it spin in an arc before falling back in his hand. "Look on the bright side, though. You'll never have to face Rinzler."

"Who?"

_Son of a glitch_, she had no idea? Ram shook his head, not quite able to believe his audio sensors. "You're joking, right?" by the look on her face, Ram quickly realized that this program knew very little about the Grid. "You must be straight out of beta-testing if you have no idea who Rinzler is. He was the most fearsome warrior on the Grid. No program has ever defeated him. Not even Tron."

"And that is?"

Ram sighed, resigning himself to the idea that beta-testing just wasn't what it used to be. What kind of User would send in their own program without filling them in on critical information. "Probably our last hope on the Grid. He was a great warrior, too – the only one who saw Clu for who he really was. But he disappeared a long time ago. He fought for the Users. Probably the only one who ever really believed in them."

"You say that like there's something wrong with Users," Flynn said and Ram wondered if he had stumbled upon another believer. There were so few left, especially after the Creator disappeared for good.

But she didn't seem angry, so he said, "They're kind of...unreliable. No one has heard from a User in over twenty cycles. The Creator showed up once, to destroy Clu's army, then disappeared again like that solved all our problems. The entire Grid is chaos, if you hadn't already noticed. This city is the worst of them all."

Flynn frowned and sat back, apparently trying to process this information. Ram smiled at her. By the hunch in her shoulders and sudden stiffness in her arms, he was sure she had some fighting spirit in her. This Flynn might actually have potential.

"I really need to get out of here," she muttered to herself.

"I wouldn't hold my data, if I were you," Ram advised. "You need to survive a hundred rounds in the Arena to earn your freedom. I'm on my last few."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Wow, you must be pretty good, then."

Ram shrugged again, feeling his face heat with embarrassment. "I'm just an actuary program. Wait until you get onto the Arena – then you'll see how _real_ warriors fight. I'll look like stupid data-pushers next to them."

That earned him another smirk that made his corrupted memory files short-circuit his processor again. As soon as he got out of here, Ram was going to find a repair program to get this fixed. Even a back-alley hack job would be better than this mess.

Ram's inner clock was telling him that Kryl had been gone for an entire nanocycle. Worry seeped into his processor and Ram felt his circuits flicker. This couldn't be good. Kryl's round had to be done by now. Where was she? He glanced at her empty cell, as if Kryl would suddenly appear out of thin data.

Flynn was one of the more perceptive programs. She glanced at Kryl's cell as well. "Whose cell is that? Do you know them?"

Ram was hesitant to start talking about Kryl in front of the Flynn program. "Well…uh, yeah. She's a good friend. Smart, you know. A pretty good fighter. But she never got a combat function installed."

"Oh," Flynn's face pinched as she computed the problem. "That can't be good. How many rounds is she at?"

"About the same as me."

"Maybe…maybe she's all right." Flynn tried to sound hopeful.

Ram didn't say anything. He was too afraid to.

Flynn didn't take her gaze off of him, her expression softening and her voice going low and gentle. "Ram, I'm sure she's fine. Maybe we'll see her in the Arena."

Flynn's harmonics soothed Ram's circuits, but his processor still hummed uncertainly. He felt like at least her reassurance deserved a little recognition, so he pinged her /_friend-thanks-helpsalot_. But when Flynn didn't respond, Ram had to assume that contact with the force field left her data fluctuating, preventing her from receiving electronic pings. He shook his head to himself; sometimes things just could not be helped.

Before either could say another word, guards approached the front of their cells and addressed them in binary. **"Arena Combatant Numbers 19 and 20 are to be escorted the Disc Wars waiting area. Do not attempt to escape or you will be derezzed."**

"Uh…what?" Flynn asked, standing up as they approached, her fists clenching in fear. Ram threw a warning look her way, hoping that she wouldn't make any stupid moves. A part of him was confused – did she not understand what the Sentries had said? They made their message entirely clear from his point of view.

The force fields on their cell doors disappeared. Flynn and Ram approached the threshold. The Sentries placed cuffs on their wrists and shoved the both of them down a long hallway, one that Ram was very familiar with. In front of him, Flynn started to tremble. Ram was beginning to worry if she'd even make it through her first round.


	5. Desperate Measures

**This chapter came out a lot longer than I anticipated, but we're finally getting to the good stuff. Also, say hello to some new programs :)**

**Read and review!**

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Chapter Five

Desperate Measures

Nikki scoured the area for more of those not-humans. They were very good at disappearing, but Nikki was nothing if not determined. She would find one eventually and she would make them talk.

This city was dark and foreboding. The buildings were larger than anything she had ever seen – there must be _thousands_ of places people could hide here. And if they knew she was coming, it would be that must easier to avoid her. Nikki wanted to just punch something – for once in her life, she wanted things to go her way.

The streets were absolutely silent. It was terrifying in its own way. No city should be this quiet. There should at least be sound of the wind rustling through lawns and trees, scattering leaves across the ground; the distant sounds of traffic or car alarms; a dog barking or an angry couple yelling; not even a bird or squirrel seemed to live here. It was some sort of No Man's Land where nothing dared cross.

Nikki eventually gave up looking for other people in the buildings. Despite the sleek metal and colorful lights, the many of the buildings were empty and decrepit, not even close to structurally safe. Many had glowing graffiti painted on the walls, pixilated as if the artists had a taste for 8-bit arcade games. She didn't understand most of them, although there was one that stood out to her, glowing bright white amongst the greens and pinks and blues.

_FLYNN LIVES_

Flynn? As in Kevin Flynn?

It sounded like a fad, a sort of fan movement you hear only on the Internet. Nikki almost expected to see some hash-tags in front of these labels, from junkies who spent too much time on Twitter and following Encom. Why did tech companies have fans, anyways? Nikki didn't understand it, the way some people were compelled to buy the newest products from whatever Fortune 500 decided to give their stock ratings a spike. That sort of loyalty to people who only wanted your money made about as much sense as being fans of car manufacturers.

But Nikki wouldn't know what it was like to own one of those fancy smart phones that you can talk to. She just stole them.

God, she needed to get back to LA, get back to the gang. She had to explain to them the mishap with Justin, how he was cop – and that she had no idea. What if they thought she was a snitch? Nikki didn't know what they would do.

Actually, scratch that. She knew _exactly_ what they would do to her.

Sometimes the best way to hurt someone is to hurt the person they love the most.

Nikki would be sure to keep Maddie safe. But first, Nikki had to find her.

She walked for several blocks, looking around every corner, hoping to see a car or bike she could steal. But the streets were void of anything useful. At least she could see the way. How the streets were lit up, Nikki didn't know, but it was handy.

It felt like hours that she searched. Was this whole city empty? Nikki wondered if she'd run into another one of those flying ships, but none appeared within the next thirty minutes. She had seen several others heading in the same direction. If her view wasn't block by huge buildings and convoluted streets, she would have gone after them. No, she would just have to find someone to take her there. Wherever _there_ was.

She didn't actually come across anyone else until another one of those ships passed overhead. The loud rumbling warned her of its approached and Nikki threw herself into a dark doorway before its searchlight fell over the street where she once stood. It passed about a hundred feet overhead, navigating the streets.

Hopeful, Nikki stuck her head out, trying to see if she could recognize the occupants inside. But she could already tell this was a different ship – there weren't as many prisoners and all of them had the glowing strips on their clothing. The ship passed overhead, missing her entirely, and went around another corner.

Nikki waited several minutes before stepping out again. As she did so, she heard a distant shout: "_The Recognizer is gone. Everyone, go!_"

She whipped around, watching as about a dozen people on all sides appeared out of empty doorways and dark alleys, scanning the area. They looked as suspicious as she felt about the place, apparently expecting another – what where they called, Recognizers? For some reason the name chilled Nikki, sending shivers down her arms.

There seemed to be a leader, a man wearing black armor with green lights waving over the refugees. They gathered and Nikki, thinking this could be her chance, joined them. She got a few looks but nothing more than the rest. No one trusted each other here. It was every man and woman for themselves. Just how Nikki liked it.

She trailed them, looking for any stragglers to take down. Nikki knew she had already wasted too much time trying to find answers and Maddie couldn't wait forever. She was about to reach one of the slower ones when the man in green broke into a run and suddenly everyone else was, too.

The straggler slipped out underneath her touch, leaving Nikki staggering. She gasped and took off after them, completely taken off guard. What was going on?

Then one woman shouted, "It's the Gammas!"

The who?

Nikki was suddenly aware of a low roar – not a Recognizer flying overhead, but rather something across the ground, shaking the street. The roar quickly grew louder and Nikki realized it wasn't just one, but _many_ engines, together coming from behind.

She turned around, just in time to avoid a streak of black and orange, knocking her off her feet with its sheer speed.

Several more shot by, scattering the pedestrians as they cried out in alarm. There was the screeching of tires as the black bullets came to a stop just ahead of them. The drivers sat up, their black helmets unfolding and disappearing into their suits, revealing nasty faces. More of them came up from behind, surrounding the group of refugees.

_This isn't good_. This was all too familiar to Nikki – a standoff of sorts. Already, her fellow victims were taking out their strange Frisbee-weapons, apparently expecting a clash. This strange motorcycle gang seemed to have had picked a fight with a bunch of random people, though. Why wouldn't they go after another gang, like in LA?

The leader of the motor gang stood up the straightest, a smug grin on his face. He had a buzz cut and a nasty scar over one eye. It didn't seem to have healed very well. "Well, well, well, Jed. You recruiting more Strays for your sorry little group?"

"We aren't Strays!" one of the others shouted, probably not Jed Nikki guessed.

"We aren't here to cause trouble, Hale," said the man in green, facing the leader with a grimace. He had short salt-and-pepper hair and the starting of a beard. He looked significantly older than the rest, with tanned skin and small wrinkles around his eyes. Nikki knew if she wanted something done, her next target would be Jed, who this man appeared to be. "We were running from the Recognizers."

"Not my problem," Hale, the leader of the motor gang, said. He shook his head, his grin warping his scar in a particularly grotesque way. Nikki winced, unable to look away from his distorted face. "You should've known better than to cross into Gamma territory, Jed. You know my boss doesn't like it when he finds stowaways wandering around, draining Energy that's rightfully the Gammas. There isn't enough to share, so we protect what's ours!"

"We aren't here for your Energy!" Jed shouted back, clutching his Death Frisbee even tighter as the other motorists took out their own weapons. The stragglers around Nikki were starting to get restless, shifting from foot to foot and muttering to each other. The looks on their faces said they were afraid of getting into a fight with these brutes. "We're just trying to get to the border. It's only one mega-unit away!"

"Oh, Jed, you know me better than that!" Hale said, stepping off his motorcycle. Incredibly, it started to shrink, turning into a small baton that fit in the man's hands. Nikki stared at it, licking her lips. What wouldn't she do to get one of those? "You know how much I love to teach you Strays a lesson! Now, who should I derezz first?"

Nikki felt the tension spike. Everyone went on alert, raising their Frisbees and angling down their heads. She reached for her gun in her waistband. This was going to get ugly fast. For some reason, no one else seemed to own a firearm. That would make things a little easier.

"Hey, Hale, check out this piece of work!" shouted someone from behind Nikki. Hale immediately turned to look at her, a nasty smirk pulling at his scar. "Look at her duds. She must be a data-pusher!"

Hale started to approach her. Nikki tensed, waiting for the right moment to strike, trying not to let the strange jargon distract her. What was a data-pusher? Her grip tightened on the gun. Hale didn't seem to notice it yet. In fact, he seemed to be laughing that she hadn't already had a weapon out and ready.

"You know what I love about data-pushers, Jep?" Hale said, sneering down at her, the gun inches from his chest. Nikki felt a little intimidated by his size – a good head taller than her, and Nikki wasn't a short lady. But she was reassured by his stupidity. Who the hell steps in front of a gun like that? "They're so easy to knock around. Not an ounce of defensive protocols in their system."

He reached out, wrapping a huge hand around Nikki's wrist. Her eyes widened, finger clenching around the trigger. Hale yanked her closer, the muzzle jabbing his chest as the man got right up in Nikki's face. She stared into his remaining eye as he said, "Why don't you go ahead and scream?"

"How about no." Nikki scowled. She pulled the trigger.

The not-humans screamed, terrified indiscriminately. Hale's look of surprise was the last thing Nikki saw before his face cracked and imploded. The motorcyclists stumbled back, horrified as their boss crumbled before her. Then the battle erupted.

A Gamma member came at her, a terrible snarl wreaking havoc on his rather handsome face. Nikki didn't give him a second glance when she spun around, kicking him in the chest and sending the Gamma back into one of his comrades. They fell over in a heap, easy prey to the standing opponents ready to take advantage.

It was hard to say who had the advantage. Nikki didn't consider herself on either side of the battle, and still had plenty of ammo left to off them all if that circumstance ever arrived. She didn't plan on staying here any longer. She tried to see a way out of the conflict, but there were fighters on all side – and several coming straight for her.

Nikki dodged a swipe of a bright disc from a female cyclist, spinning around and slamming the butt of her gun into the woman's head. The attacker grunted before going down like a sack of potatoes.

She was about to turn that woman into tiny glowing bits when a hand wrapped around her arm. Nikki turned, ready to shoot the offending person, but met the grim face of Jed, who for some reason wasn't trying to kill her. Nikki hesitated, noting the look in his eyes and the sudden jerk when he pulled her after him.

"What the hell!" Nikki shouted, yanking her arm back. She had her grip on the trigger all ready – there was no way anyone was going to mess with her in this freaky town. "Let go of me!"

"You want to get out of here?" Jed snapped, glaring at her and the gun she had pointed at him. He raised a hand, hesitantly in case he provoked her, and carefully turned the gun away from his chest. "I know a place we can hide. But we have to leave, now!"

"I don't need your help!" Nikki snapped, jerking the gun away from his touch. She almost shot him just for getting into her personal space – but thought better of it. Nikki didn't want to waste ammo if she could help it. "I can find my own way around."

"Really?" Jed raised an eyebrow. There came a valiant war-cry behind him as a Gamma charged, some sort of glowing saber in hand. Jed ducked, grabbing the Gamma's wrist as it came down and snapping the man over his back. Jed swiped the blade away from him (which, remarkably, turned from red to green), and brought it down into the Gamma's back. He looked up at Nikki's expression of surprise and said with a wry smirk, "You look like a newbie straight outta beta-testing. You have no idea where you are, do you?"

Nikki scowled. Okay, so this guy was a little smarter than she thought. That didn't mean she had to do anything for him, though. "So, what? I can adapt. Besides, you don't have anything I want. Unless you can tell me where those Recognizer things are going?"

"The Recognizers?" Jed looked completely baffled, as if Nikki asked which building was the best to jump off of. "Why? They only take you to the Games. Or to be Rectified. But usually the Games. Anyone taken doesn't make it out alive – why do you think we're hid from them?"

"Rectified?" what did that mean? Nikki didn't like the sound of it – even less of Maddie participating in the Games, which, from the way Jed said it, sounded a lot like a scary version of the Olympics. The kind that had to-the-death battles. She swallowed, feeling the blood drain from her face. "No, that can't happen. Where are they taken, the people that get captured? Can you take me there?"

"Users, no," Jed snorted, moving around some duelists and hopping over one of those fancy motorcycles, crouching behind their thick metal bodies for cover. Nikki followed him, not because she wanted to, but because she still needed some answers. "That's just asking to get derezzed. You know its run by the Alpha gang, right? They're ruthless, and they love showing off how easy it is to control other Programs. No one lasts long there."

Nikki didn't like having to lower herself to this level, but this Jed guy didn't seem to understand the gravity of her situation. She ducked around the motorcycle, leaned right into his face, and snarled, "Someone I care about was taken and I'm not going to let them die, all right?!" she jabbed a finger in Jed's chest, who eyes widened. "So you're going to take me there, whether you like it or not! Or do I have to use this?"

She raised her gun, the muzzle pointing into the air. Jed glanced at the weapon, eyes narrowing and his mouth set into a thin line. He was silent for a moment, flinching ever so slightly when something bashed off the side of the motorcycle. Then he said, "Fine. But only if you help me get rid of the rest of these Gammas, okay? I need to get these Strays out of here alive, not get slaughtered in the streets like Grid Bugs."

Nikki gave it a moment of thought. The idea of getting back into the fight didn't seem so much scary as much as a nuisance. She didn't want to waste time by killing dumb gang members when she could be on her way to Maddie. While Nikki wasn't sure if Maddie had been chosen for Rectification or the Games, she decided that finding the latter would be her best bet. She was no stranger to the showcase cage-fights in LA; two people, usually some muscleman against a snitch or hooker who didn't keep her mouth shut, battle in front of a huge crowd who cheered and made bets, usually on the side of the muscleman. He got paid more if drew out the fight, knocking around his opponent with loose but painful jabs, slowly beating them down until they were crying for mercy. They would get none. It wasn't meant to be a fair-fight. People just wanted to see someone die.

Some of her compatriots derived joy from the spectacles, but the cage fights just made Nikki sick to her stomach.

The Games were probably no different.

"Deal," she said, holding out her hand. Nikki wasn't a fool – she didn't agree to anything without shaking on it first. But Jed just scrambled back at her offered hand like she was making a move to attack him, so Nikki just rolled her eyes and drew back. "I kill these guys, and we go to the Games. As soon as possible, you hear?"

"Just use that-that _thing_ of yours, all right?" Jed shouted as a large explosion shook the ground. He curled up, hands around his head as a nearby motorcycle was knocked over, leaving deep gouges across the ground as it was tossed aside.

Nikki got to her knees, peering over the top of their motorcycle, using it as a shield as she readied her gun. The vehicle seemed thick enough to block any blows of those Death Frisbees or weird light sabers. She pin-pointed the Gammas in their red-lit armor and harsh haircuts casually offing the less capable Strays – and picked them off one by one. She still had two more cartridges in her other pockets (seven in all, if she counted the secret ones in her jacket and boots). The Gammas couldn't react fast enough, the bullets too fast for them to see, and Nikki smiled to herself as they dissolved into red and orange cubes. Their discs and blades clattering to the ground, like strange spoils of war.

They didn't stand a chance. All the Gammas were...what was it, derezzed? All the Gammas were derezzed in a matter of seconds. Nikki holstered her gun and stood with her arms crossed, proud of her work. Gunfights usually didn't go this well for her.

"Wow," Jed slowly got to his feet, leaning over the motorcycle to see the damage Nikki had wrought. He blinked several times, running a hand through his dark gray hair before finally saying, "I've never seen anything like that."

"Yeah, I'm not going to waste my time throwing discs around waiting to get stabbed in the back," Nikki replied, going around the motorcycle to pick through the remains of her enemies. This was less gruesome than in the real world, but at least the valuable items were easy to find amongst the dimming cubes. She picked out a black baton, several squares of lights glowing along its edge – she had seen a Gamma wield it, had watched in fascination how the blade seemed to emerge from the hilt at the flick of a wrist. Nikki didn't like close combat, but this would be a lot more useful than a stupid disc that cut her hand open every time she grabbed one. She shuffled through the rest of the dead Gammas and found the baton's companion. When she fixed them end to end, the blades on either end emerged, glowing bright white. Double-ended sword. "Nice."

Jed stared at the color of the blades. His brow drew down in confusion, even after Nikki broke down the batons and stuck them inside her jacket for safekeeping. "Hm. I've never seen circuitry like that before. Well, except on Sirens, but you're definitely not one of those."

"Right," Nikki didn't know what a Siren was and she didn't care. She motioned towards one of the bikes the Gammas had left behind. "So are we going to head to the Games or what? It should be faster if we take those."

Jed shook his head to clear it, as if finally remembering what was going on. He acknowledged the leftover vehicles, eleven in all (one got destroyed in the battle), before nodding and turning to the surviving Strays. "Yeah, but first we got to get these guys out of here before more Gammas show up." He noticed the look of growing fury on Nikki's face and raised up two placating hands before she could explode. "It's just a few streets away, I swear! Besides, we can get more equipment there, and real back-up – not helpless Strays, but real security programs who know what they're doing. And if you're thinking of getting there the hard way, then we'll need a tank. It's the only thing that can blast through the walls of the Arena in one shot. Does that sound good to you?"

Nikki thought about it for a moment. Getting to use a tank was incredibly tempting, particularly because they would be entering enemy territory and firepower was always the best solution in those cases. But it would sacrifice speed, and Nikki didn't want to waste any more time than she had to. Right now, she wondered if Maddie was still alive at the moment, and asked Jed, "Okay, fine, but we have to get this done fast. How well fortified are the Games?"

"It's the Alphas, what do you calculate?" Jed just looked at her like this was a stupid question. "It's got the best security on the entire Grid. Trust me, we will _need_ that tank. I'll get my best enforcers and we'll be on our way in less than a nano-cycle."

Nikki decided this was the best deal she was going to get. Actually, it was even better than she imagined, but she would never admit that out loud. She didn't actually think she could get back-up – and major firepower – for her siege against the Games. Nikki didn't consider herself charismatic or a natural leader, but she had to admit, she really stepped up the game here. All it took to get things done here was some hard-earned respect and a couple death threats, and she was good to go.

It was simple. Nikki had to give this place, the Grid, that much credit. And no one talked about the po-po coming around to ruin things, which just made it all the better.

She, Jed, and the Strays headed out immediately. The Strays couldn't be trusted riding a vehicle, much less remember their own name, so they had to carry the cycles on sticks. That was another convenience Nikki admired – a bike in a stick! So easy to use, easy to hide. Excellent for a quick getaway if necessary. She stuffed one of the cycle batons into her boot, keeping it separate from her swords; the last thing she wanted was to draw a weapon when she wanted to escape, or vice versa.

They also took the fallen discs, which Jed told her could be repurposed for the Strays. Nikki didn't know why these people thought the Frisbees were so valuable, but the Strays played around with them like they were the eighth wonder of the world.

Their hide-out was a small, run down building that looked like it had exploded from the inside-out. It didn't exactly instill confidence in Nikki about Jed's resources, but she was pleasantly surprised when, upon entering, Jed revealed a secret doorway when he pressed his hand against the far wall – and revealed the glowing outline in a door that activated at his touch. He ushered the Strays through the translucent green force field and down the stairs behind it. Too curious not to look, Nikki followed them.

Down the set of dark stairs, they emerged in a brightly lit room – strips of lights on the walls, glowing blue-green across the floor and ceiling. Tables and chairs scattered the room, along with motorcycles propped up or on their side, with sections of their construction strangely holographic and see-through. There were piles of dull discs in the far left corner, just dumped in a pile. Even from here Nikki could tell not all of them were as nice as the ones they had – many of the discs collected were broken or chipped, completely unusable for whatever these guys wanted to do with them.

There were at least a dozen people in the cellar, all working on their own little projects. A guy with a face mask was working on the motorcycle, moving around the holographic pieces as if they were solid material. Another was tinkering with the broken discs, using what looked to be a very small screwdriver to try and take them apart. Others were drinking and talking quietly amongst each other – the entire atmosphere felt muted and grim.

Everyone fell completely silent at the arrival of the newcomers. Several of the drinkers stood up, their arms itching towards the batons at their sides. Nikki wondered if they would attack, and was just about to reach for her gun when Jed pushed through the crowd of Strays and held up his arms, "Hey, it's cool, it's just me, guys. Found some Strays wandering around, nearly got taken by a Recognizer. Anything happen while I was gone?"

The programs just shrugged and muttered in a noncommittal manner – clearly, this was not the place to be if you wanted some serious action. Nikki was starting to get impatient again; forget the pleasantries, she had to go!

One of them seemed to notice she wasn't as mindless as the rest of them. He had green little lights, like Jed, with thick black hair slicked back on his head. He pointed a finger at her, "That's not a Stray. She's not even wearing a suit. Where did you come from?"

"Los Angeles," came Nikki's sneer, before Jed could intervene on her behalf. She folded her arms across her chest – who did this little creep think he was? "What's it to you?"

The suspicious look on his face didn't fade away, but he started to look a little bewildered now. He wasn't the only one. Jed threw her a look, almost as though he expected the weirdness at this point. "...Right. Look, she helped fight off the Gammas and helped me get these Strays here, so show her some respect. Anyways, I've got a mission for all of you."

Immediately, everyone perked up, all eyes on Jed. They listened in enraptured silence as he said, "We're going to storm the Arena."

The air was still with held breath. Then it exploded.

All at once people started shouting, throwing their arms up in the air, protesting with incredulity, all converging on Jed. _What_? Storm the Arena? Was he crazy? They'd be slaughtered before they ever got to the walls. Why in Flynn's name are we even doing this?

Jed could barely get a word out edgewise. When they finally calmed down enough for him to finally be heard, Jed took a deep, patient breath and explained, "Look, our friend here saved our life. You guys remember Hale? Remember how he derezzed over half of our members? How we could never get a scratch on him? Well, he's just a pile of voxels now, because of her."

"_What?_" there came a collective gasp. The man with the slicked-back hair threw a sharp look in Nikki's direction, and demanded, "Prove it!"

"We have his disc, check!" Jed implored.

There was a mad scramble for the discs in the hands of the Strays, who just looked around in a daze as the discs were ripped from their limp hands. Discs were thrown to the ground when the holographic heads that appeared at their centers did not reveal Hale's face. Finally, a girl crowed, throwing her arm into the air, Hale's weapon in her fist. "It's true! He's been deleted! Deleted!"

The ceiling thundered with cheers. Nikki jumped back by the sudden uproar, not expecting this reaction over the death over someone who Nikki didn't find particularly impressive. How could he be so tough, if he just walked into her gun like that? Did the man have no brains? Did he have no idea?

Then she remembered these people weren't people, and realized maybe they didn't think the same way she did. Deleted certainly wasn't a term she'd use to describe his current condition.

This seemed to be the moral boost the group needed for a call to arms. Without another question they started gathering weapons – batons, disks, even small circular objects that Jed told her were grenades – and stocking up as much as they could on energy drinks.

They gave a toast to Nikki for defeating Hale before knocking back. Nikki had one as well, only because she was getting a little thirsty, and recoiled at the electric shock that hit her tongue. It was bitter and strong, yet strangely tangy – like orange juice that was more carbonated caffeine than fruit. It sent a course of electric energy through Nikki's system, sending every nerve on end. Suddenly she felt more awake, more alive, every sense heightened. Her vision became more focused and her movements' quick and jerky. Never before did she want to move and run and jump and expend this energy pounding through her veins. She could barely contain herself as Jed selected his team and they thundered up the stairs, whooping and cheering. One departed from the rest only to return in half a minute, driving a humongous tank – all black besides the blue lights.

The tank's swiftness caught Nikki off guard, but it only strengthened her resolve. If this tank was fast as well as strong, then very little could stand in her way of rescuing her sister.

Throughout it all, the only person who seemed less than enthused was the man with the slicked-back hair, who someone had called Costas. He was the only one who continued to watch Nikki in suspicion – and she certainly noticed. He didn't protest when Jed picked him for the outgoing team, and Nikki didn't voice her concern; as long as he was a good fighter and didn't try to sabotage this mission, she wouldn't let him bother her.

On the street, Jed called out, "All right, everyone, Light Cycles out in three, two...one!"

All at once everyone around Nikki ran forward, then leaped into the air with their cycle batons. Before her eyes the collapsible motorcycles appeared. They started out as glowing outlines forming around the individual, before solidifying into metal and lights and slamming onto the ground in a burst of speed. They raced out, ahead of the tank, which quickly putted along. Nikki smiled to herself, pulling out the baton from her boot and tossed it in her hand. This would be a lot more fun than she thought.

_Maddie, here I come_.

And in a flash of light, she was off.


	6. Let the Games Begin!

**I don't know if this is apparent or not, but yes, this is post-Legacy. Sam and co will show up, just further on. Still too much going on here. Anyways, read and review :)**

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**Chapter Six**

**Let the Games Begin!**

Maddie was taken down a different hall than Ram half-way through. She turned to him, afraid to speak, but he just shrugged his shoulders. Maddie relaxed a little, rationalizing that the soldiers probably wouldn't kill her before her first battle.

As the soldiers escorted her to some unknown destination, Maddie considered her decision of lying to Ram about her real name. Perhaps using the original Creator's name had been a bad idea, but he had been a User, too. Okay, so Nikki would probably whack her across the head for giving any name at all, but what was she supposed to say? Superheroes did it all the time, and Ram seemed to be all right. Maddie thought she had been almost clever in coming up with the pseudonym. Now she was worried it could get her in trouble.

At least his memory problems stopped him from picking up on the obvious.

She was left in the center of a hexagonal room, on top of a dais, with a strange looking sarcophagi in four opposite corners. Maddie's feet were locked in place by the same glowing fetters as on the Recognizer. Even as she attempted to move in place she knew it was hopeless. She looked around, waiting for something to happen.

While thoughts of execution floated around in her head, Maddie jumped when the sarcophagi opened, revealing four tall, eerily beautiful women dressed identically in skintight white bodysuits. She watched in stunned silence as they stepped out of their alcoves and approached her in synchronized steps.

Maddie wanted to lean away as they stopped a foot from her in either direction, but they had her surrounded. Still synchronized, they each raised their right arm, extending their forefingers, which lit up like ET's from that movie. "Ah! Don't touch…!"

She watched helplessly in stunned silence as they traced their fingers along the outside of her body, their hands running along the seams of her clothes. Maddie stared as the lights from their fingers acted as fine-point lasers, neatly cutting her clothing to bits as another strange substance took its place, covering her body in a thin black fabric with no seams. It covered her body like a unitard, form-fitting yet stretchy and flexible. "Whoa. What is this? Some kind of special suit?"

They did not respond. The programs took her clothes and dropped them on the dais. Small square-shaped openings appeared in the floor, sucking in the scraps like a vacuum, then closing shut once more, as if nothing happened. The programs, in unison, stepped back and turned around, approaching shelves that emerged from the wall. Circuitry lit the contents inside, but Maddie couldn't see at this angle what they were, with the programs blocking her view.

She heard a whisper to her right. One of the programs spoke to her companion. They apparently hadn't been made for subtlety, because it wasn't too hard for Maddie to hear them.

"She is different," the program said, her voice heavily digitized. "Like the last one."

Last one? Who was that?

Hope suddenly filled Maddie's chest. Was she talking about Nikki, the only other User on the Grid? Maddie didn't know how programs could sense she _wasn't _one, but now it didn't matter. There had been no other User here, anyways. It had to be Nikki, right? Maybe she was in the Arena, at this very moment, fighting for her life.

The programs turned back around. In their arms they carried strange looking pieces of…of something. Two held what looked like the halves of a chest plate, and Maddie's thought were confirmed when they pressed both parts to her chest and back. The pieces molded to her body like a second skin (or third, as the case may be). The other pieces went around her arms and legs, and as they attached themselves to her body, Maddie watched as more of that tough material spanned out and connected with each other. She gulped when more wrapped around the base of her neck, enclosing the final parts of her bare skin, leaving only her head exposed.

The programs were entirely expressionless as they each took a step back. White circuitry traced up and down her body in a complex pattern, starting at her feet and flickering upwards.

As one program turned to retrieve her Disc, Maddie heard a female voice coming from somewhere above her speak in a monotone voice. "_Attention, program. You will receive an Identity Disc. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this Disc. If you lose your Disc, or fail to follow commands, you will be subject to immediate De-resolution._"

Well, she wished Ram had told her that before. Maybe gave her a couple pointers that the Disc wasn't just something to help her pretend she was a program, but actually a part of her survival. That would have made things a little simpler. And she probably would've grabbed one before she got caught.

One program nodded to the other behind her. Maddie swayed a little as the program slid and locked the Disc into place on her back. A surge of energy shot up and down her spine, making Maddie's fingers tingle with static.

"Marrying complete," said the program to her left, her irises glowing like a back-lit screen. "Disc activated and synchronized. Proceed to Games."

Maddie examined the new gig on her arms and hands. So _that's _what this was about. They were dressing her in armor, so she'd be prepared to fight. Well, at least they gave her a sporting chance, however small that may be.

One by one each program returned to her casing thing, like a turtle retreating into its shell. There was only one left, still watching Maddie with a half-smile on her face. Why was she staring? It was like she was waiting for something only she could see. Maddie looked at her, frowning. "How do I get out of the Games?"

The program displayed a coy smirk. "_You don't_."

Then she, too, stepped back into her case and disappeared into the darkness.

The room darkened a little and the locks on Maddie's feet released. She stumbled back, almost losing her balance, before catching herself. She turned around towards the way out, the door that slid open to reveal a blinding white light. Her shoes had been replaced with the thick armor that the rest of her body had been covered with. The stuff across her body was much lighter and tougher than anything Maddie had experienced. This was, like, serious sci-fi stuff that you only saw in movies and games that had to do with space and aliens – certainly not inside a giant computer world where AI constructs were living, breathing beings.

Maddie approached the light, covering her eyes as a distant sound of what seemed to be ocean waves slowly became louder and louder…

...And emerged in a giant arena, the size of which could compete with the largest football stadiums in America. Thousands upon thousands of programs on hundreds of seats, spanning several floor levels, all screaming so loud they came together in a collective roar.

As the small vessel she was on carried her to the center of the arena, where other floating containers circled around, Maddie let her gaze rise up and up and up – to green-black, turbulent sky. Lightning flashed but no thunder could be heard over the colossal screams of the audience that spanned in every direction. There was a large disk in the air above the collection of vessels, acting a scoreboard by counting off all the competitors, with their names and numbers. Maddie barely got a chance to see hers (number 7), but couldn't read any name before she was brought to a stop underneath. The gate to her vessel opened, allowing her to step off and onto a sort of small playing field. To her far right, she recognized Ram exiting his own cage.

It wasn't much bigger than a tennis court, split in half with a small piece of floating glass in the middle. Maddie didn't know what it was for, but she decided to stay away from that end of the court, lest she fell. And it would be a long drop before she ever hit anything on the way down.

There was someone else on the opposite side of the court. He looked like mean fellow, all green circuitry with marks on his face – strangely resembling war paint, which did not make Maddie feel any more hopeful about being in this situation. Was that strange Armory woman right? Would she never leave this place alive?

Maddie wished she knew what the rules were. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, not even after the buzzer went off and let the players commence their battles. How could she play – let alone win – if she didn't know how this game worked?

Before she could react, the green combatant suddenly charged at her, swinging his arm with ferocious strength. As he did so, a helmet folded around his head, extending from the end of his suit and forming tough metal and glass around his head.

And his disc, the weapon he had thrown, came straight at Maddie. It was off its target by about a few feet, spinning towards the glass barrier to her left. Without thinking, Maddie lunged for it, catching the disc before it could hit the wall. It buzzed in her hand, the sound angry. The outer edge was a light, and she could feel the heat in her palm. If it had hit her straight on, she imagined it would hurt very much.

Around her the audience booed, mixed with some gasps and shouting. Her opponent just stared at her for a moment, looking taken aback. Maddie didn't know what was wrong – this was like Frisbee, wasn't it? Why else would he throw his disc at her if she wasn't meant to catch it?

But her opponent just shouted, "Hey! Give it back! That's against the rules!"

"It is?" Maddie frowned at the disc in her hands. She remembered the gang war when she first entered this world, how the fighters used them against one other – and shattered to pieces at a single, well-placed strike. But she hadn't seen any thrown, and those that were had been deflected. She looked around her now, saw a court to her left where a man launched himself at his enemy by bouncing off the floating center plate and driving his disc straight into the other player's throat and hitting the ground in an explosion of glowing voxels.

Oh. It's _that_ kind of game.

Maddie's own opponent got the same idea and jumped over to Maddie's side. She yelped and ran away as he came after her, but only got herself cornered against the edge of the court, going too fast to stop. Maddie held her arms out in front of her before she could hit the wall, but forgot about the disc in her hands – which promptly cut straight through the glass and shattered it. Maddie cried out as she fell through, unable to stop herself in time.

Meeting open air, Maddie reacted instinctively. Her days as a gymnast were far behind her, back in the days of being a freshman in high school and trying her best to get involved and make friends – but those instincts stayed long after.

She twisted in the air, getting herself to face the court as she fell and grasped the edge before it flew past her fingers.

Her arms felt as though they were being pulled out of her sockets when her weight followed her grip. Maddie swung forward, chest hitting the bottom of the floating court.

Heart pounding, Maddie bit her lip in a held cry of fear as the green warrior came right after her, bursting out of the same hole she did but not nearly as nimble in fall.

He arced too far out to reach for anything, but as he fell, he snatched at her legs, not getting any purchase on the smooth material of her suit, before finally catching against the crook of her ankle.

Maddie gasped as the new burden suddenly yanked her grip, almost sliding her off the edge entirely. Pain shot up her leg the man held on for dear life, using her ankle to begin climbing up her body, like a makeshift rope. His disc had fallen from her hands, disappearing onto the dark track below. The only weapon left was Maddie's, still attached to her back. There was no doubt in her mind that was what he would use to kill her.

Maddie kicked and thrashed, trying to loosen his grip on her ankle, which she feared might be broken or dislocated. More movement threatened to knock Maddie off the court entirely, but as she desperately clung to the slick surface, she managed to pull herself up a little more, centimeter by centimeter. Her will to survive trumped her fear of death.

And still the man hung on. Maddie was getting desperate, half her chest on solid ground, she started to feel his grasp start to slip. Her legs hung at a different angle now that she was closer to safety, feet pointing down instead of horizontally. Maddie used her free foot and ground her heel into his fingers, elbows, face – repeatedly kicking at that dark helmet until he took one hit too hard and lost concentration. He uttered a stunned shout as he dropped away, spinning to his death.

Maddie turned her face away, unable to watch.

The audience roared with satisfaction, on the edge of their seats of who would win this unusual battle. Maddie hefted herself up with ease, collapsing in an exhausted heap on the cool glass floor of the small field. She knew it was only luck that she survived that battle, remembered her training well enough to use it when in the most needed situation – and that the man wasn't strong enough to hold on forever.

She was already tired of this stupid game. Maddie didn't want to play anymore, she just wanted to sleep for a millennia. This was too much, and the guilt of choosing her life over another just made her want escape more.

But it wasn't over yet. There was another buzzer and a monotone female voice spoke over the roar of the crowd, "_End of Match One – Combatant 2, victory; Combatant 4, victory; Combatant 5, victory; Combatant 7, victory. Combatant 10, victory. Start of Match 2..._"

Maddie groaned. She couldn't do this again. But as the courts started to change, the empty half moving away to fill with another, Maddie forced herself up. She was suddenly consumed with the desire to know if Ram survived his first match. She looked around wildly, not seeing him at first, but recognized his form in the farthest ring; his helmet, drawn up, had confused her – but his thumbs-up was a reassurance. They had both made it out the first round alive. She still didn't know how to make her helmet show up, though, considering the defense advantage it would give her.

This time, her opponent was female, with bright yellow circuitry. Instead of having a disc as a weapon, though, she also had a glowing staff twirling in her hands. The woman had a cruel grin on her face. Maddie swallowed, unable to hide her fear. This woman could tell who was easy prey, and wouldn't be as easy to defeat as Maddie's last opponent.

The woman was already moving before the buzzer rang. Like the last one, the woman threw herself into Maddie's end of the battle cage – Maddie just managing to yank out her own disc in self-defense before bringing it up to block the incoming staff.

She forgot that the discs did not have a solid center.

The staff went straight through the hole in her disc, striking Maddie directly in the chest and forcing her to the ground before she could utter a cry.

She coughed, winded, as the woman jammed the end of the staff into Maddie's chest, but unable to get past her layer of armor. It cracked and glowed from the impact, but refused to break. The woman's teeth were gritted with effort.

The woman brought the staff up and down again, making Maddie's head bang against the floor. She could feel her chest bruising from the blows, but it wasn't as unbearable like she thought a deathblow would feel like.

Maddie's enemy was as confused as she was. The woman's eyes widened behind her helmet's visor, grip clenched tightly around her staff as she put her full weight into it, apparently thinking Maddie might crumple under the pressure. In sharp, staccato breaths, the woman snarled, "Why. Aren't. You. Derezzing?!"

Maddie's disc was still around the staff. Unable to take any more of the blows, she jerked her hand, pulling the disc and forcing the staff off her chest as it was yanked away, caught in her weapon. The woman stumbled as her weight was knocked off-balance, and as she fell towards the ground, Maddie swung her free hand and smashed it as hard as she could against the side of the woman's helmet.

When Maddie stood up, she realized there was a glass visor in front of her face. She glanced down at the disc in her hand, thinking to herself: _well, that answers that_. All she had to do was pull out her weapon and her suit automatically went into battle mode.

The woman collapsed, stunned, and by the time she picked herself up, Maddie had mysteriously disappeared.

In fact, Maddie wasn't in the battle cage at all. Deciding she was through with the fighting, Maddie did the first thing that allowed escape and jumped through the hole in between the two halves of the court. She had watched her timing, waiting for the courts below her to rotate in the right position before falling through and landing on top a good twenty feet down. The audience started to boo again at this obvious rule-breaking, but Maddie ignored them. Above her, the monotone female voice said, "_Combatant 7 out of bounds. Commence Final Match_."

Before her, the glass changed. The other courts fell away and Maddie watched in dismay as another formed around her, the other half arriving with a new combatant. Her stomach dropped even further when she recognized him.

"You shouldn't have broken the rules!" Ram called at her from across the court. His disc hung at his side, expression despondent. Clearly he was as unhappy at this situation as she was. "No one escapes the Games unless they want you to. Neither can leave unless one of us derezzes the other!"

Above her the buzzer rang. But Maddie didn't make a move. She shook her head, yelling back, "I'm not doing it. I can't kill you!"

The crowd booed and Maddie wondered if they could somehow hear what they were saying. They wanted to see a fight, a good fight, but the players refused to do anything. Maddie was somewhat encouraged when Ram didn't make the first move, either. What would happen if both sides refused to kill each other? Maddie couldn't think of a reason how the people in charge here could _make_ them fight against their will.

Ram looked around nervously as the crowd started to chant, "Derezz! Derezz! Derezz!"

He turned to her and said, "Flynn, if we don't do this, we'll get disqualified and Derezzed immediately."

But Maddie couldn't bear the thought of hurting anyone she considered her friend. Sure, she only knew Ram for less than a day, but that didn't make it any easier. She didn't even like to hurt a stranger, and her first round was only a desperate attempt to survive. Deliberately killing someone she liked? Maddie wasn't sure if she could live with herself afterwards.

Nikki would call her weak. Nikki would tell her that there were no such things as friends, that the only person that mattered out there in the world was herself – well, her and Nikki – and anyone that got in the way of their survival deserved whatever they got. But Maddie couldn't make herself think as ruthlessly as her sister, no matter how hard she tried. In fact, just the thought of it made her want to cry.

Ram still looked uncertain, but Maddie wasn't. Because the crowd still thought something might still happen, she decided to sheath her disc. The arena filled with boos – but Maddie smiled as Ram eventually did the same, putting away his disc in an act of solidarity. Although he looked afraid, he held his shoulders back and nodded at her, saying, "Whatever happens next, we face it together."

It was a warm thought. Maddie didn't actually think she would have to follow up on it. Much less in three seconds.

The buzzer rang once more and the crowd quieted. Maddie wasn't sure why, as the announcer didn't say a word, but saw Ram looking up, as well as other combatants in the floating courts around her. Curious, Maddie turned her gaze upward, wondering what they saw. She heard Ram mutter something under his breath, but she couldn't utter a single word as four black shapes dropped down from above, smashing through the glass roof and into their arena.

Even as Maddie threw herself out of the way of the incoming combatants, the court was changing again, folding and flattening like liquid metal. Soon she and Ram were standing on an entirely flat surface, a perfect circle, in the center of the Arena – and jolted as the cheers began once more, with incredible passion.

"Black Guards!" Ram managed to shout just before diving out of the way. Two black-clad soldiers landed where he once stood, dressed entirely in black with face-concealing helmets with the disturbing addition of gas-mask-like respirators and tubes on either side of their head. They were more armed than the soldiers within Holding that Maddie had seen, with an array of small circular disks on their legs, two batons each, and of course a disc – all glowing bright red.

There were four in all – two for each, Maddie supposed. These Black Guards were entirely silent and moved in synchronization. They whipped out their batons at once, bringing them together at the hilt to form various weapons like swords and staves.

"Not good," she muttered under her breath, reaching for her own disc again. Well, looks like they were going to use these after all. The name 'Black Guard' gave her the sense that these were not your average fighter, and she was right. These guys were brutal and efficient with their attacks, always striking Maddie in places she wasn't looking, wasn't expecting and too fast for her to defend against.

Maddie had expected to be killed quickly. That's what the combatants during the duels were most concerned, a quick and easy battle. But the Black Guard, they didn't strike her with the sharp end of their discs, only glanced at her and pushed her around. Every time she tried to get a hit on them, they either blocked or feinted and got her back even worse. It occurred to her sometime along the fight that the Black Guards weren't trying to kill her. Oh, no, they were putting on a show for their audience, who loved this slow, torturous end for these miscreants, these rule-breakers, these rebels. They loved watching Maddie and Ram be utterly hopeless against the unrelenting enforcers, an inevitable death they couldn't escape.

She didn't know how to make it stop. Sure, Maddie could just jump off the edge and take the short way out, but she couldn't make herself do it. Even as she desperately tried to land a strike, Maddie prayed for someone to save them. Particularly, Nikki, who usually did the saving in these kinds of situations. But Nikki was nowhere to be seen. How could she even get in here? The walls were so thick, so wide that they would be impossible to blast through, and sneaking would be too slow, especially if there were a lot of soldiers out. Maddie couldn't count on her sister, not this time.

But that meant that she would die. It was the unavoidable truth. Maddie could not last for much longer. She could already feel her muscles getting tired and every time she got knocked down, it got a little harder to pick herself back up.

Ram was barely holding his own. He was putting up a better fight, actually managing to nick a Black Guard across the shoulder, but was quickly overcome by a roundhouse kick to the chest, sending him skidding across the smooth blue glass. Ram tried to pick himself up before the Black Guards could saunter over and start again, but he wasn't fast enough. Still not using their weapons, the Black Guards kicked and stomped, making Maddie wince with each blow, even as she earned some of her own.

Incredibly, Maddie was furious, with both Black Guards and herself – they weren't even giving Ram a chance to fight back, just making the crowd boo and cheer as they crushed Ram beneath their boots. Maddie couldn't stand to watch it, she wanted to do something. Oh, she wanted this to end, all right, but this was desperation so powerful it went beyond even the wish of death.

Gathering all the willpower she could muster, Maddie hefted herself to her feet, throwing her attackers off balance by the sudden movement, and threw herself at the nearest Black Guard attacking Ram. She went full-octopus, wrapping arms and legs around the surprised Guard and with her full weight and momentum combined, slammed him to the ground. Not enough to shatter him, just so Ram could have a fighting chance.

"Whoa, thanks, Flynn!" was his breathless reply as Ram got to his feet, taking the other Black Guard (who was distracted by Maddie's surprise attack) and shoving his disc into the enforcer's chest. The Black Guard barely had time to cry out before he disintegrated into voxels. Ram wrinkled his nose at the mess, spitting "Absolutely disgusting."

Their moment of victory was short-lived. The Guard beneath brought up his elbow into her head, shattering the glass of her visor and cutting her cheek. He threw her off, sending the stunned girl tumbling across the surface as he jumped to his feet and turned on her. His back to Ram, the other program attempted to throw his disc into the enforcer's back, but his arm was caught by the other two Black Guard, who slammed him into the ground.

Dazed, Maddie could feel something warm running down her face. Her helmet zipped back, apparently unable to handle the extensive damage, baring her face wide open for the audience – and any incoming attack – to see.

The Black Guard approaching her did a double take. The roar of the audience faltered, quieting for a moment, and even Ram looked shocked, staring directly into her face. Although he was too far away to make out words, Maddie could read his lips as he said, "_No way_..."

The Black Guard tilted his head down at her, and in a grumbling, digitized voice it said, "User has been identified. Awaiting orders."

Then the crowd started to boo. The Black Guard in front of her jerked back into motion, extending out a single hand that wrapped around her arm. She tried to scramble away but was hauled against her will, held in a vice-like grip as her arms were pinned behind her back. Very quickly everything changed – handcuffs were suddenly produced and Maddie had begun to fear that maybe this was no longer a fight...but an execution.

As if to hammer in the point, the female announcer appeared again to say, "_Unauthorized User in the Arena. The Games are postponed. Commence with execution_."

Another Black Guard joined the first one who had Maddie in cuffs. Already her mind was doing windmills, panicking at the unrelenting cuffs around her wrists, the feeling of absolute helplessness as her disc was kicked away – and then she was forced to her knees, facing the audience. The platform rotated, so no one would be singled out of a view.

Now the Black Guards finally withdrew their discs from their backs. They hissed to life, glowing red, energy forming a rippling wave of energy around the rim. The discs hummed through the air as they were raised over the Black Guards' heads, movements carefully synchronized. Out of the corner of her eye, Maddie could see Ram struggling against his captor Guard, who had cuffed him as well. Would they kill Ram, too, because of guilt by association? After all, he had refused to fight her. Perhaps this what the Black Guards were going to do. They would send everyone a message.

Maddie closed her eyes, not wanting to see the two black masks looking down at her with arms raised. This was not what she wanted to see before she died.

Her heart thumped loud in her chest, blocking out any sound in her ears like a pounding drum, a beat the quickened by the second, a tempo that made her skin chill and hair rise on the back of her neck. The longer she waited, the louder the crowd roared. She could feel it through the floating platform, vibrating the thin glass and blocking out any other thought than now.

Her breath came out in sharp gasps and Maddie flinched, wondering when those blades would come down and –

A scream ripped through the air. But it wasn't hers.

Suddenly, the grip on her left arm vanished and a split-second later, so does the one on the right. Maddie gasped as what felt hail rain on her body, like little hot coals dancing across her skin. Around her, the audience goes completely silent, a collective cry of shock that disappears into petrified still, as if hoping to remain unnoticed from this new, invisible force.

Maddie's breath came out in harsh gasps. She finally opened her eyes and stared at the lone, dark figure crouched before her, surrounded by a sea of red voxels that contrasted with his almost lightless suit. In each hand is a disc – one red, one blue, both whirring with quiet intensity. This man –for what else could he be, with broad shoulders and a lean body? – wears a helmet, black and opaque like a Black Guard, but completely smooth and featureless, with no distinction between visor and helmet. The helmet is facing up at her her, _looking_ at her, and Maddie shivered when she sensed the eye contact made between them.

He did not move, he did not twitch. His head did not turn, so Maddie had the distinct feeling that they were still looking eye-to-eye. But she couldn't see his face and he hadn't said a word. Maddie opened her mouth to say something, perhaps a 'thank you' or 'who are you?' but before any of that can happen, a garbled shout erupts behind her.

The black helmet jerked up, a short quick move that was a preamble to how swift and fit this stranger was in combat. Before Maddie could even look over her shoulder to see what the sudden commotion was, the stranger was already on the move.

In no time flat he was in front of the charging Black Guard, dodging the first two swipes, then blocking the offending arm with one armed wrist and thrusting the other into the Guard's chest. Red voxels fell through the blue-rimmed disc.

Ram watched this all, mouth open in a prolonged state of shock. He kneeled on the ground, watching in rapt silence as the stranger took out the Black Guard with hardly a struggle. One Black Guard was hard enough to fight face to face (much less four of them at once), but this stranger treated Black Guards as though they were just Game fodder. Ram looked towards Maddie, his expression seeming to ask: _Are you seeing this, too_?

There were no more Black Guards – and the crowd was wild again, incensed by this new and clearly greater warrior. As the female voice said, "_Illegal combatant on the Arena. Releasing enforcements..." _Maddie got herself to her feet, knees knocking together as she tried to stand up straight with both hands tied behind her back. The stranger stood, slightly hunched, over the remains of the last Black Guard, looking down at the mess before turning to her, as if he noticed her watching.

And he spoke just four words to her.

"It's time to go."


End file.
